Myroslav Herasymovych, a renowned Ukrainian writer, screenwriter, and musician, was killed in action on November 25 near Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast, just days before his 57th birthday.
Herasymovych, born in Lutsk on 29 November 1967, was a graduate of the Taras Shevchenko National University’s Faculty of Journalism.
According to Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn, he was “a man of ideals and principles” who participated in both the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity. From the first days of the full-scale invasion, Herasymovych joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine, fighting on challenging front lines, including in Kurahove.
His brother, Taras Kulyk, confirmed the news in a Facebook post, sharing a poignant quote from the poet’s own work: “On this land, both old and young, each of us will die somewhere. So consider it luck — if you meet death in the struggle for the ashes of ancestors, the smoke of native altars.”
The mayor Markushyn said that Herasymovych was killed by a Russian KAB (air bomb). He was not just a soldier, but also a multifaceted artist – a poet, prose writer, screenwriter, musician, and founder of the Vecherny Prostir Free Arts School.
PEN Ukraine reports that over 100 Ukrainian artists have been killed since 2022, underscoring the significant cultural loss to the country during the ongoing war.
Read also:
- Why I translate Ukraine’s silenced poets
- Acclaimed poet killed defending Ukraine
- “War is part of Russian culture,” Zelenskyy says, marking 1,000 days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine