Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda awarded representatives of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces who participated in the evacuation of the body of the deceased Lithuanian volunteer Tomas Valentelis.
This is stated in a message from the Special Operations Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on its Facebook page, reports “European Truth”.
The command reported that for the courage and professionalism shown, the President of the Republic of Lithuania awarded the representatives of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a state decoration – the Order “For Merit to Lithuania”. All participants in this operation will be separately awarded for their contribution to the mission.
“Operation Messenger” is the evacuation of the body of 20-year-old Lithuanian volunteer Tomas Valentelis from the Foreign Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. SSO operators have been carefully preparing for it for over a week: reconnaissance of the area, training, planning the exfiltration route and distracting actions,” the command said.
The body of the fallen Lithuanian volunteer was evacuated literally from under the enemy’s nose. The SSO soldiers quietly reached the site of Tomas Valentelis’ death, identified his body, prepared it for transportation, and, despite dense enemy fire, successfully evacuated it without any casualties.
Earlier, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Šakaliene announced that Lithuanian volunteer Tomas Valentelis would be posthumously awarded one of the country’s highest military awards.
Valentelis died in March 2025 while performing a combat mission in Ukraine. The 20-year-old had served in the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since August 2024.
Українська правда
