New Zealand to Award Special Service Medal for Support to Ukraine

The Government will award the New Zealand Special Service Medal (Support to Ukraine) to recognise Defence personnel who have deployed in support of Ukraine’s self-defence, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today.

Nearly 1,000 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel have served in Europe and the United Kingdom supporting Ukraine’s self-defence following the Russian invasion in February 2022, Ms Collins says.

These personnel have carried out challenging and often emotionally confronting work in the service of New Zealand. As part of Operation Tīeke, they have helped alongside partners to prepare thousands of Ukrainian personnel for the battlefield.

Under the UK-led Operation Interflex, more than 60,000 Ukrainian personnel have been prepared for immediate combat operations.

The medal has been approved in principle by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Once the Governor-General has approved the medal Regulations, which detail eligibility criteria, it is proposed to be issued to those with thirty days of qualifying service.

Operation Tīeke is a major component of New Zealand’s effort to uphold the international rules-based order by directly supporting Ukraine against Russia’s illegal invasion and supporting the wider security of our European partners, Ms Collins says.

I have seen first-hand the value our personnel are providing to the people of Ukraine, and I am extremely proud of their contribution.

I would like to thank our NZDF personnel and acknowledge the impact deployment has on their families. We appreciate your service and your sacrifice.

Note to editors: The New Zealand Special Service Medal (NZSSM) is specifically for service that carries some of the elements of operational service but does not meet the threshold for that recognition. It was instituted in 2002 to recognise service or work for New Zealand in very difficult, adverse, extreme or hazardous circumstances that fall outside the boundaries of what members of the NZDF - and certain other New Zealanders - could normally expect as part of their routine duties or work.

Special service often involves risk (whether physical, environmental or psychological). The Government has designated the Operation Tīeke deployment as special service within the intent of the New Zealand Special Service Medal Royal Warrant, both for its psychological impact on those who are deployed and its contribution to the maintenance of a rules-based international order and international peace and security together.

To date, the NZSSM has been awarded to those who were present at atmospheric nuclear tests in Australia and the Pacific in the 1950s and 1973; took part in body recovery and victim identification following the Air New Zealand Mount Erebus disaster in 1979; and participated in rescue, relief, and rehabilitation efforts after the 2004 Asian earthquake and tsunami.

Service recognised through a NZSSM does not count towards qualification for the New Zealand Operational Service Medal.