WThe Order of Merit first, second or third class, is the Ukrainian order of merit, given to individuals for outstanding achievements in economics, science, culture, military or political spheres of activity. It was first established by Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma on September 22, 1996.
WAbdullah II bin Al-Hussein is King of Jordan, reigning since 7 February 1999. He is a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, and is traditionally considered a 41st-generation direct descendant of Muhammad.
WValdas Adamkus is a Lithuanian-American politician, diplomat and civil engineer. He served as the 5th and 7th President of Lithuania from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2004 to 2009.
WRinat Leonidovych Akhmetov is a Ukrainian billionaire businessman and oligarch. He is the founder and president of System Capital Management (SCM), and ranked among the wealthiest men in Ukraine. As of June 2021, he was listed as the 327nd richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of US 7.5 billion. Some sources have claimed that Akhmetov has been involved in organized crime, but Akhmetov has never been charged with a crime, his lawyers having successfully refuted these accusations. Akhmetov is the owner and president of the Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk. In 2006–2007 and 2007–2012, Akhmetov was a member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) for the Party of Regions. Akhmetov also made numerous statements, since March 2014, appealing for integrity of Ukraine and finding peaceful solutions of the crisis.
WMykola Yanovych Azarov is a Ukrainian politician who was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 11 March 2010 to 27 January 2014. He was the First Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister from 2002 to 2005 and again from 2006 to 2007. Azarov also served ex officio as an acting Prime Minister in the First Yanukovych Government when Viktor Yanukovych ran for president at first and then upon resignation of his government.
WOksana Serhiyivna Baiul-Farina is a Ukrainian retired competitive figure skater. She is the 1993 World champion and the 1994 Olympic champion in ladies' singles.
WHennadiy Viktorovych Balashov is a Ukrainian businessman, blogger, politician and leader of 5.10 political party. He is an advocate of a radical reform of Ukraine's tax system, so-called "Tax Paradise for humanity".
WYuri Abramovich Bashmet is a Russian conductor, violinist, and violist.
WHaluk Bayraktar is a Turkish engineer and executive. He is the CEO of Baykar, TUBITAK Board Member and founder and chairman of the board of Turkey Technology Team Foundation and SAHA Istanbul. He is a pioneer of Turkey for autonomous technology efforts which reshaped battlefields and geopolitics which resulted with a change of future warfare doctrines.
WValeriy Pylypovych Borzov is a former Soviet sprinter. He is a two-time Olympian, a former president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, and Minister for Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
WYuriy Anatoliyovych Boyko is a Ukrainian politician, former Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, and a former Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine. He is considered one of the main supporters of closer integration between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Hero of Ukraine (2004).
WMajor General Vasyl Vasylovych Durdynets is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat. He served as Acting Prime Minister of Ukraine during a short period in July 1997.
WDavid Harris is the CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations in the United States.
WMykola Andriyovych Horbal is a well-known Ukrainian dissident, human right activists, member of parliament of Ukraine, poet, and member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group
WBasilio Kaczurak was a Ukrainian composer, bandurist, orchestra conductor, and promoter of Ukrainian folk music in South America.
WSerhiy Volodomyrovych Klymentiev is retired Ukrainian ice hockey defenceman.
WIosif (Joseph) Davydovich Kobzon was a Soviet and Russian singer, known for his crooner style.
WMykola Filaretovich Kolessa was a Ukrainian composer and conductor, born in Sambir near Lviv.
WAndrzej Stanisław Kremer was a Polish lawyer and diplomat, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland.
WLeonid Danylovych Kuchma is a Ukrainian politician who was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency was surrounded by numerous corruption scandals and the lessening of media freedoms.
WJanusz Marek Kurtyka was a Polish historian, and from December 2005 until his death in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash, the second president of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN).
WDavid Joseph Levac is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2018 who represented the riding of Brant. He was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2011. He is the longest serving Speaker in Ontario history.
WVitaliy Andriyovych Masol was a politician in his native Ukraine both during and after the era of the Soviet Union (USSR). He held various posts in the Ukrainian SSR, most notably the Head of the Council of Ministers, which is the equivalent of today's Prime Minister, from 1987 until late 1990, when he was forced to resign. He was later Prime Minister of Ukraine, confirmed in that post on 16 June 1994. He resigned from that post on 1 March 1995.
WViktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk is a Ukrainian politician, lawyer and business oligarch. People's Deputy of Ukraine from 29 August 2019.
WMetropolitan Mefodiy was the Primate of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine.
WVictor Mishalow is an Australian born Canadian bandurist, educator, composer, conductor, and musicologist.
WHennadiy Hennadiyovych Moskal is a Ukrainian politician and the former governor of Zakarpattia Oblast, serving from 2015 to 2019. He was previously appointed governor of the Luhansk Oblast while the War in Donbass was ongoing in Luhansk Oblast.
WPavlo Naumenko – Ukrainian PhD in Sciences, Full member (Academician) of the Engineering Academy of Ukraine Docent of the National Aerospace University – Kharkiv Aviation Institute. Naumenko was awarded with the Best Employer of 2003 as the General Director of Kharkiv State Aircraft Manufacturing Company (KSAMC) in 2004. Laureate of "Aviation Week and Space Technology" (US) Award for successes on the international market in promotion of An-140 – first passenger aircraft designed and produced in the independent Ukraine.
WBorys Yevhenovych Paton HOU was a Soviet and Ukrainian scientist and a long-time chairman of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He was appointed to this post in 1962 and held it until his death. Paton, like his father Evgeny Paton, was famous for his works in electric welding.
WMykola Petrovych Pavlov is a former Ukrainian football defender, and former head-coach of Illychivets Mariupol in the Ukrainian Premier League. He is Merited Master of Sports of the USSR (1983) and Merited Coach of Ukraine.
WOleksandr Pavlovych Popov is a Ukrainian politician, businessman, former head of the Kyiv City State Administration.
WVadym Pysarev is a famous Ukrainian dancer, People's Artist of Ukraine, Art Director of Donetsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after A. Solovyanenko, founder and director of international festival World Ballet Stars.
WVolodymyr Ivanovych Serhiychuk is a Ukrainian historian, writer and politician.
WOleg Shapovalov was a Ukrainian politician. A member of the Party of Regions, he served as President of the Kharkiv Oblast Council from 2005 to 2006.
WKostiantyn Mykolaiovych "Konstantin" Simchuk is a former Ukrainian professional ice hockey goaltender. He was named best goaltender at the B Pool of the 1994 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships held in Bucharest, Romania. Now retired from his professional career, he focuses on coaching.
WHryhoriy Surkis is a Ukrainian businessman, one of five vice-presidents of UEFA since 24 May 2013. Surkis was the president of Football Federation of Ukraine till September 2012.
WValeriy Sushkevych is a Ukrainian politician and public figure. Member of Verhovna Rada. President of the National Committee of Sports for the Disabled of Ukraine, head of the Ukrainian public socio-political association "National Assembly of Disabled of Ukraine", president of the Association "Sports Industry of Ukraine."
WJan Petrovych Tabachnyk is a Soviet and Ukrainian variety composer, accordionist, politician and entrepreneur.
WGeorge Tuka or Heorhiy/Georgiy Tuka is a Ukrainian politician and activist. Since 29 April 2016 Tuka is Deputy Minister for the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons in the Groysman government. In 2015 and 2016 he was governor of Luhansk Oblast.
WIvan Vakarchuk was a Ukrainian and Soviet physicist, politician and social activist. From 1990 to 2007 and again between 2010 and 2013 he was Rector of the Lviv University. In 2007–2010 he was Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine. Hero of Ukraine, he was father of the leader of the rock band Okean Elzy Svyatoslav Vakarchuk.
WViktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a Ukrainian politician who was the third President of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.