NEW YORK — UN Secretary-General António Guterres posthumously awarded the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal to 68 peacekeepers from 33 countries on 5 June 2026, at the Economic and Social Council building in New York. The event honored those who died in service, with 59 recipients having died in 2025.
Before the ceremony, Guterres laid a wreath at the Peacekeepers Memorial at UN Headquarters. "Unfortunately, as events of this very week remind us, peacekeepers continue to face peril in the cause of peace – and we pay the highest tribute to their service and sacrifice," Guterres said. "They represent the best of humanity – people prepared to risk everything to keep others safe." Two peacekeepers also received the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage.
Sergii Prykhodko of Ukraine was a private contractor with a helicopter crew for the UN Mission in South Sudan. Prykhodko died in South Sudan in March 2025 during a mission to evacuate besieged soldiers. His widow, Tetiana Prykhodko, attended the ceremony with their six-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. "This medal honours his bravery, but it also reminds us of the true cost of peace – the sacrifices made by those who serve far from home for the sake of people they may never meet," Prykhodko said. "He did what he had always done — he put others before himself. And I believe his example of serving peace is an example for all of us." "For our family, it is a great honour that the United Nations remembers Sergii not only as a fallen hero, but as a person who chose humanity every single day," she said.
On the same day as the ceremony, Sergeant Milovan Jovanović of Serbia, a peacekeeper with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), died from injuries sustained in a mortar attack. Jovanović had arrived in Lebanon in January for his first peacekeeping deployment and would have turned 37 the following Saturday. He was the seventh UNIFIL peacekeeper killed since hostilities between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon escalated in March.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, head of UN Peace Operations, said: "The courage we recognize this morning is not abstract. It is lived every day by peacekeepers serving in some of the world's most dangerous and difficult environments." "And yet, peacekeepers continue to deliver," he said. UN peacekeeping operations are experiencing operational funding shortfalls due to delayed and incomplete payment of mandatory contributions from member states. Budget constraints have resulted in decreased patrols and air operations, delayed infrastructure projects, and limited support to local communities.