site.btaBessarabian Bulgarian from Bolhrad Region Awarded Ukrainian Order of Courage Posthumously

Bessarabian Bulgarian Anatoly Baron was posthumously awarded the Order for Courage third degree by decree of the President of Ukraine, the website of the Bolhrad Regional Military Administration reported on Thursday.

The award was received by his sons and brother at the town hall of the Pavlovsky Municipality in the Bolhrad Region.

Baron was born in the village of Vasylivka in the Pavlovo Municipality. He served as a sergeant in the Lviv border detachment. He died on February 17 near the village of Bilohorivka. The 44-year-old man was buried in his native village.

Odesa Region is home to the third largest community of expatriate Bulgarians, numbering more than 150,000 people, according to an official population census in Ukraine in 2001. Between 50,000 and 60,000 Bulgarians live in the regional capital, Odesa. Bulgarians in the region are concentrated in the districts of Bolhrad, Izmail, and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi.