Inna Derusova

Inna Mykolaivna Derusova (; 5 July 197026 February 2022) was a Ukrainian military medic who was the first woman to be posthumously awarded the Hero of Ukraine distinction.

Civilian life Derusova was born on 5 July 1970. She had a lot of responsibilities, as the head of the medical service, of the medical center, and as a medical instructor.

In 2016, her son, Sasha, who was a tattoo artist in civilian life, joined her unit to serve as a mortar operator. She was overjoyed when he married in late 2021.

Awards On 10 December 2021, Derusova was awarded the Defender of the Motherland Medal.

On 12 March 2022, she was awarded the highest national title of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine, with Order of the Gold Star. She was the first woman to be awarded the title posthumously.

On 25 March 2022, she was awarded the Ternopil Pedagogical University "Pride of TNPU" award.

In April 2022, a street in the city of Mukachevo that was formerly named after Russian partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was renamed in Derusova's honor.

Hospital visit hoax

On 13 March 2022, the Ukrainian government press service posted photos and video of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visiting a Kyiv military hospital. Pro-Russian sources such as RT and politician Illia Kyva claimed that the images showed Zelenskyy accompanied by Derusova, who had died in February, thereby proving the visit was pre-recorded or fake. In fact, the woman accompanying Zelenskyy was Ukraine's medical forces commander Brigadier General Tetiana Ostashchenko, as could be read on her uniform. The claim was considered to be part of a series of fake claims that Ukrainian authorities had fled the country.