Mykola M. Babych (Babych)

Senior Lieutenant Mykola Babych was killed in Russian captivity on the night of July 29, 2022. The occupiers blew up the barracks where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held in the Olenivka colony No. 120 in the Donetsk region. On August 12, the officer would have turned 31 years old. Mykola was born in the village of Voskresenka, Sumy region. In 2008, he entered the Putyvl Vocational Lyceum. He studied to be a tiler-finisher, but after a year he changed his profession to a tractor-mechanic. After graduating in 2010, he was immediately conscripted into military service in military unit 3057 of the National Guard of Ukraine in Mariupol. In 2013, he met his love, and a year later the couple got married and raised their firstborn. In 2016, Mykola entered the National Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in automotive transport. The man served under contract in the 12th Brigade of the Special Purpose of the National Guard of Ukraine "Azov" and lived in Mariupol. He carried out combat missions in the ATO / JFO and sought to improve his military skills. Later, Mykola took the position of platoon commander for armored vehicles in the repair company. From February 24, 2022, together with his comrades-in-arms, he participated in the defense of Mariupol and "Azovstal". In the spring of 2022, by order of the leadership, he surrendered and ended up in Olenivka, from where he did not return. In 2016, the military received the award of the President of Ukraine "For participation in the anti-terrorist operation", in 2021 - a letter of thanks from the National Guard of Ukraine for high achievements in military activities and certificates for loyalty to Ukraine, conscientious performance of combat missions, perseverance in the performance of military duty. "My husband is an example of courage and a real man for me and my son, for his mother. In childhood, when he was 7 years old, he was left without a father. And at such an early age he began to help his mother with the household, he could not leave her, so he did not have a hobby as such. School, holidays, friends, work in the yard. He loved to build huts in the trees, disassemble everything into details and then assemble it again. Despite the fact that he had to grow up early, he still remembered his childhood with warmth and a smile... We will always be proud of him! He is a true Hero for us, a loyal patriot of his family and his country. Our undefeated warrior. The only son of a mother, an unsurpassed husband and father," said Vira Babych. After the exchange of bodies in June 2023, the officer was buried in the Alley of Glory of the cemetery near the city of Buryn in the Sumy region. His mother, wife and son did not wait for their hero. The officer was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage of the III degree.