He stood on the Maidan in February. He wanted to wake up the authorities somehow.
– There will be a war!” he prayed, begged, shouted.
– Sleep for a while, but we have to do something.
Abroad, I heard the news that the Muscovites were waging war on us. He was a patriot, and he came on foot to take up arms.
He had been a warrior since childhood. It seemed that he knew, he was a child. He dreamed of changing this whole sinful world and making his native Ukraine flourish.
My son was always the first in everything. He was always cheerful and quick to cheer up. He wanted to see and hear everything and seemed to be in a hurry to grow up.
At school, he passed all his subjects with flying colors and had many friends around him. He studied hard at the music school, read smart books with delight.
Stus wanted to know poetry by heart, he always spoke his native language, asked us not to sing Moscow songs, and lived according to his conscience, and had many friends.
He always said:
– Everything will be fine with us.
We were once led down the wrong path.
He asked that enlightened people should unite and protect their native Ukraine.
He got an education, lived and worked. He had many plans and dreams.
He became such an adult, independent, dreamed of a family, of being a dad….
I lived according to my conscience, worked hard. He dreamed of earning money to get back on his feet. He had golden hands for everything, he never refused to help people.
He walked from Poland to defend Ukraine.
I stood with a poster near the Verkhovna Rada.
I wanted to wake up the people and the authorities. The enemy is coming to make everyone take up arms.
I was a volunteer, helping the guys. I used to guard bridges at night. And then he decided to go to the East to defend the country
He fought in hot spots, at ground zero.
He was not used to complaining about the cold or heat.
– I’m fine!
That’s what he told me, and he believed in our victory.
He wanted the enemy evil to go away. Everyone came back alive and well, so that the sky above everyone would be peaceful
and they would not hear a foreign language.
– He’s dead!
The black raven cried out. It brought terrible news to our house. I could not believe that my son, an angel, had already become a hero in heaven.
He gave his life for Ukraine. For his native language, which he wanted to hear. My son Ivanko has already become an angel. I still do not believe that this can be.
I still have the books with Stus’s poems, the songs that my son did not have time to finish singing. Lord, how many times did I pray that he decided to take my son away from me?
At the cemetery, there is a portrait of Ivan lying between the flags, with his date of death underneath. He lived a little and did a lot, so people will remember him for a long time.
Author – Solomiya Ukrainets
Contributor: Oksana Yakubovska, mother of Ivan Zakhsynyk
To recap.
On 14 January, 2024, during the hostilities near the village of Maryinka, Donetsk region, as a result of an enemy FPV drone attack, a resident of the village Ilkovychi, Yakubovskyi Ivan Andriyovych, born in 1995, died.
He was called up for military service on February 25, 2022 by the Desnianskyi District Military Commissariat in Kyiv, served as a grenade launcher of the airmobile unit of the military unit A4350. He remained faithful to the Military Oath and the Ukrainian people to the end.
The Hero Ivan Yakubovskyi is survived by his parents and older brother. We sincerely condole with the loss of our dearest son and brother.