"I have to raise and educate our children, without my husband..."

"It’s incredibly difficult and painful to learn how to live without Yaroslav. With him, I felt like behind a stone wall, safe and confident. The worst thing was to survive the first few months after his death, I just did not perceive the reality, had no idea how I would handle everything myself ", says Larysa, wife of Yaroslav Babych, fallen Ukrainian soldier. 

Yaroslav "Balkanian" Babych was a well-known Kyiv lawyer, an activist of the Revolution of Dignity and one of the founders of Azov - the regiment of special purpose of National Guard of Ukraine. Larysa his wife tells the husband devoted himself to work completely for sake of the future of our country and the youth. 

Since childhood, Yaroslav Babych had a sharp sense of justice, this determined in his future professional carrier. The young man graduated from the Shevchenko National University, specialization of military lawyer. He worked in the specialty in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. When he demobilized from the army, he started his own law practice. Yaroslav had his own code of honour; he never took up a case, in which he would have to stand in defence of the people associated with drugs or human trafficking. 

When the couple had a first child, Yaroslav was infinitely happy. "As soon free time appeared, he always ran to our Sviatoslav. I could completely rely on him. You know probably every woman feels happy and happy when she sees how much her man cares about the child", says Larysa Babych. 

Before the Revolution of dignity, Yaroslav Babych was a director of the legal department of one of Kyiv companies. At the same time he was engaged in social activities. Therefore, from the beginning of active events on the Maidan, he did not stand aside, but actively participated in all events. "One night my husband came home and said that he could not just sit down and work when in the centre of the city people were killed. He said that it was necessary to contribute for a better future and do what he did best - provide legal assistance and protect people in the courts", says the fallen soldier’s wife. Then, Yaroslav Babych became one of the first legal defenders of political prisoners. 

Then, returning to the legal service, Yaroslav Babych initiated and was the author of a number of amendments to the laws of Ukraine on protection of Russia-Ukraine war veterans and their families’ members. 

But one July day (25 July 2015) the Babychs family suffered a tragedy. Yaroslav was found dead in his own apartment. "When I found out about it (his colleagues called me) I just could not believe it. I am sure that my husband was killed and the suicide was staged", says wife Larysa. The woman says that for a few months she did not tell children the truth that their father was gone, because she could not understand it. "The kids loved him, it’s now terribly hard for us, it is necessary to do everything myself, work and raise their children, but the health gives up, the pressure is constantly rising", continues Larysa.