All of us at UDS are excited and honored to welcome a Ukrainian military officer to our Freedom for Ukraine Banquet & Auction on May 16. Mykyta Zhuiko has been serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2005 and is about to graduate from the prestigious Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, with a Master’s Degree in Information Strategy and Political Warfare.
Mykyta has had a long and distinguished career in Ukraine’s Armed Forces, serving as a captain in the army and for a year as part of the United Nations mission in South Sudan. After that, he was promoted to serve in military communications with the Analysis and Monitoring Department in the Strategic Communication Directorate (StratCom) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
While with the StratCom, he served in both humanitarian roles and in roles combatting enemy propaganda. He also has extensive training in and experience with Ukraine’s Special Forces and psychological operations. Some of these duties include both civil and foreign affairs work, as well as civic-military cooperation. Mykyta also has experience helping people in Ukraine’s “gray zones,” areas near the frontlines where people face near-constant combat conditions, and has also helped send aid to Ukrainians in temporarily occupied Ukrainian lands.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, Mykyta was in the United States for training, while his wife was in Kyiv. She chose not to evacuate. “It was hard. I was worried every day,” he said. After returning in May 2022, he continued to serve in StratCom and was promoted from an officer position to chief of the department within 2 years.
Mykyta’s wife joined him for his current training stay in the U.S., and she will also be at our upcoming banquet.
After graduation this June, Mykyta plans to return to Ukraine and continue serving his country.
Visit our banquet webpage for more information about our biggest fundraiser of the year and purchase your tickets by May 10, 2026.
