Three years ago, Hlib Babich, a defender, poet and patriot of Ukraine, died in the Kharkiv region.

Three years ago, Hlib Babich, a military man, poet, public activist, and leader of a veterans’ organization, died near Izyum in the Kharkiv region.

On this day, friends and brothers remember Hlib, share his poems and songs, and come to his grave with flowers and thoughts.

“Three years without Hleb Babich. And it feels as if he just muttered something again, and we all burst out laughing. My friend. Comrade. A person with whom you could go into battle. Always the first. But Hleb was not only a warrior. He was a philosopher. A poet. A person who could explain in one sentence what we stand for. And with his word, he kept order no worse than with a machine gun,” Petro Poroshenko wrote.

“Everything will be here or somewhere.

Because fate is colorful.

And the whole world fits in

at the bottom of a soldier’s backpack,” he quoted his favorite lines.

“This is Gleb. His lines, his depth, his world. He knew how to charge. He knew how to carry. He knew how to hold — all of us. And after he was gone, we hold on. Because his word, his flag, his cross do not allow us to fall, but demand that we carry on with his cause. If someone tells you that it hurts less over time — don’t believe it. You just learn not to fall. To turn pain into action. Into struggle. Into victory — which Gleb not only dreamed of, but acted for until his last breath,” the fifth President wrote on social media.

“It is important for our team to preserve the memory of Hlib. Today I am in Lviv. Because of another tragedy… But Marina came to Hlib for the two of us. Honor to you, brother. Eternal memory, Hlib. And thank you,” Poroshenko noted.

Until 2019, Gleb Babich was a platoon commander of the 10th OGShBr. After February 24, 2022, he became a fighter of the Kyiv Regional Defense Forces. He wrote over 500 songs and poems. Songs based on his poems are performed by the Kozak System group – “Give Us Arms”, “Power and Weapons”, “Enough Sad Songs”, “Freedom is Like Love”, “Molfar”, “Those Who Hold the Sky Over Christmas” and “Don’t Leave”.

Hlib Babich implemented many projects to help the army. The optical reconnaissance complexes he designed along the front line saved many lives of Ukrainian soldiers. The veteran organization “Res_Publika. Brothers in Arms” now bears his name, and its members have been fighting at the front since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

In October 2023, an initiative group of Kyiv residents proposed renaming Kanalna Street in honor of Hlib Babich. A vote was held in the Kyiv Digital application. In January 2024, the Kyiv City Council adopted a decision to rename the street in honor of the Hero and poet.

A year ago, the former March 8 Street, located in the Zavodsky district of Hlib Babich’s hometown of Mykolaiv, was renamed in his honor.

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