Yaroslav Savchenko: Pierre The Romantic

"My heart is aching" was inscribed on the chevron on the chest of a tall, broad-shouldered man. He was about one meter and ninety centimeters tall, with a thick beard, tightly pursed lips, a focused gaze, and a slight wrinkle between his eyebrows. The photo, taken in early 2023, showed soldier Yaroslav Savchenko, who defended  Ukraine from the first days of the full-scale war. If you saw Savchenko for the first time in this photo, you would never have guessed that he had just turned 22. "Yaroslav changed visually—he grew bigger, more mature," said Dmytro Afanasiev, Ivanna Rudenko, and Olha Dunebabina, Yaroslav’s actor friends from the Babylon Theater, where he performed from 2018 to 2022. 

Everyone I talked to about Yaroslav said that he unwaveringly believed in justice, unquestionably defended his family and friends, and came to the rescue of those in need. Savchenko, a mortar operator, perished while saving his brother-in-arms on April 28, 2023, in Donetsk Oblast. Yaroslav was posthumously awarded the Order for Courage, III class in January 2024.

**

"I fear very much that when I grow old, I will realize while resting that I have achieved nothing, that I did not understand anything, and that I was not brave when I needed to be," Yaroslav Savchenko wrote in his diary in 2018. At the time he was in his final year of school in the town of Netyshyn in Khmelnytskyi Oblast and was preparing to start university. For a while, Yaroslav hesitated between studying acting and history. Ultimately, he chose the study of the past because he was convinced that only by delving into, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from bygone eras could Ukraine build a decent future.

In 2022, while serving in the Territorial Defense Forces and later in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yaroslav decided to become a teacher. "He wanted to teach school children," said Nataliia Savchenko, Yaroslav’s mother. "He continued his Master’s studies while serving in the military. Yaroslav was not obliged to serve, as he was still a student, but he simply could not resist enlisting." From the early days of the war, Savchenko and his best friend, Anton Prasolenko, also an actor at the Babylon Theater, joined the Kyiv Territorial Defense Forces. Anton Prasolenko died on March 30, 2023, at a military hospital in Kyiv due to injuries sustained while fighting near Bakhmut.

Yurii Terentyev, Savchenko’s brother-in-arms, recalled that he came to defend his thesis straight from the front. He rejoiced at having represented both his work and himself well, and at the university, they welcomed him as a hero. Yurii met Yaroslav at the beginning of the full-scale war in the Kyiv Territorial Defense. Jokingly, they called themselves the Berkovets Anti-Zombies in honor of the historical area of one of Kyiv's districts, the very area defended by the territorial defense unit in which Savchenko and Terentyev both served. "When Yaroslav and Anton came to us, they were two children. Sometimes, they would oversleep at the start of their shifts. They couldn’t stand seeing someone drinking instant coffee, so they’d say: "Throw it away, I’ll make you a proper one," Yurii laughed. In addition to acting in the Babylon Theater, Savchenko and Prasolenko worked as baristas in a coffee shop before February 2022.

"After the Russians were pushed out of northern Ukraine, we were redeployed to places that were even more dangerous at that time, asking who was ready. The guys did not doubt that they were going further," recalled Yurii. "Yaroslav and Anton became much stronger both physically and mentally. Later, Yaroslav started training as a mortarman, and he did well. He shot accurately, and he wasn’t afraid to be posted on the front lines."

During their military service, Yaroslav and Anton photographed daily life, their brothers-in-arms, and nature. After their deaths, the Babylon Theater  released a printed calendar for 2024 called "Moments of Life" featuring their photos. The print run was sold out, and all proceeds were directed to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, particularly for the Babylon actors’ units who are still at war. 

"There’s a special place in my heart for every person I love deeply, it is like a separate chair," Yaroslav wrote in his diary. It appears that even after his death, he continues to uphold what was an unwavering value for him—protecting those who mattered to him and his homeland.

**

"Am I happy? Yes, my friend! Life is beautiful! BABYLON!" his mother Nataliia read out Yaroslav’s words from his notebook. 

Despite having chosen history as his profession, the theater remained his great love. From the age of 16, he took the stage in Netishyn and later in Kyiv when he entered the Drahomanov National Pedagogical University. Savchenko performed in eight plays at the Babylon. His favorite role was Pierre Kyrpatenko in the play "The Blessed Island of Savatiy Huska," which was based on Mykola Kulish’s play "How Huska Died." Yaroslav even adopted the call sign "Pierre" in the army. 

In the storyline, Huska dreams of marrying off his seven daughters but sees only one worthy groom, a young student named Pierre, who shares his disdain for the Bolsheviks. "Yaroslav endowed this character with the same romantic qualities that he himself possessed," recalled Savchenko’s theater friend Dmytro Afanasiev. 

"Yaroslav’s rendition of Pierre was so romantic that it didn’t match the character, the circumstances, or Kulish," added Iryna Savchenko, the director and artistic curator of the Babylon Theater. "However, in Yaroslav’s portrayal,  Pierre the romantic turned out to be very organic, so we decided to present the character to the audience just like that." 

"Yaroslav wanted to show true love and bright feelings on stage. That’s who he was—he wanted nothing bad to happen in the world," said Ivanna Rudenko, an actress and Yaroslav’s co-star in the play "The Blessed Island of Savatiy Huska."

It was very difficult for him to play negative characters—they didn’t match the young man’s bright nature. "There was an internal confrontation; Yaroslav resisted and became irritable. Ultimately, he did it because, as an actor, he had to explore himself through different roles," says the director. 

However, Yaroslav's colleagues recall one situation where he let off a lot of steam. One day, they decided to clean up the backstage area, where they had accumulated a lot of unnecessary things, including Soviet paraphernalia. "What a pleasure it was for him to break all that peace-labor-May crap!" Iryna Savchenko smiled.

The most important thing that Yaroslav, like many other actors, gained from the Babylon Theater was its people—a sense of community, a place where he could express himself and where he would always be supported. 

"Am I living my life right? Which path should I choose? I’m still pondering over this. But I want to do what I love. When I’m gone, I will leave behind what was in my heart," Yaroslav wrote in his diary in 2018 when he joined Kyiv’s Babylon Amateur Theater.

**

Savchenko adored impressionist painters. Diana Marusych, whom Yaroslav had known since childhood and with whom he attended an art school in Netishyn, recalled how much joy a virtual tour of an art exhibition brought him in the months leading up to his death. Diana recorded a video of an exhibition in a Lviv gallery and edited it to music and sent it to Yaroslav.

Music, in general, was a big part of Yaroslav’s life. Among the artists he often listened to were Billy Idol, KRUTЬ, Nytso Potvorno, Edith Piaf, Frank Sinatra, and David Bowie. Yaroslav’s style was to respond to messages with a song, and the composition usually complemented the mood, added to thoughts, and resonated with the emotions of those to whom the melody was addressed. Yaroslav felt connected to his people even from a distance.  The performers of the group Lad, Vladyslav Pochebula and Anna Matviychuk, dedicated their song "Pierre" to Yaroslav. At the end of the music video, you can see Yaroslav’s childhood footage from his home archive and hear his voice reciting a poem by Serhiy Zhadan. Reading Ukrainian poetry was another of the young defender’s many passions.

**

"My son determined his values back in school: spirituality came first for him, followed by the state, and then family. On the morning of February 24, he wrote to me: "Mom, don’t worry, stay calm. The war has started, but we will expel the occupiers from our land. Everything will be fine," Savchenko said. "I am comforted by the thought that Yaroslav was true to himself from the very beginning to the very end." 

"I no longer prefer just black from the entire spectrum of colors. I see beauty and elegance in each one of those. I don’t limit myself to liking one type of person. I find beauty and uniqueness in everyone. Before, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and saw only flaws. Now I see myself as a whole person." (excerpt from Yaroslav Savchenko’s application for residency in a co-living space, Kyiv, 2020).

TEXT: HANNA USTYNOVA

Yaroslav Savchenko: Pierre The Romantic

"My heart is aching" was inscribed on the chevron on the chest of a tall, broad-shouldered man. He was about one meter and ninety centimeters tall, with a thick beard, tightly pursed lips, a focused gaze, and a slight wrinkle between his eyebrows. The photo, taken in early 2023, showed soldier Yaroslav Savchenko, who defended Ukraine from the first days of the full-scale war. If you saw Savchenko for the first time in this photo, you would never have guessed that he had just turned 22. "Yaroslav changed visually—he grew bigger, more mature," said Dmytro Afanasiev, Ivanna Rudenko, and Olha Dunebabina, Yaroslav’s actor friends from the Babylon Theater, where he performed from 2018 to 2022.

Everyone I talked to about Yaroslav said that he unwaveringly believed in justice, unquestionably defended his family and friends, and came to the rescue of those in need. Savchenko, a mortar operator, perished while saving his brother-in-arms on April 28, 2023, in Donetsk Oblast. Yaroslav was posthumously awarded the Order for Courage, III class in January 2024.

**

"I fear very much that when I grow old, I will realize while resting that I have achieved nothing, that I did not understand anything, and that I was not brave when I needed to be," Yaroslav Savchenko wrote in his diary in 2018. At the time he was in his final year of school in the town of Netyshyn in Khmelnytskyi Oblast and was preparing to start university. For a while, Yaroslav hesitated between studying acting and history. Ultimately, he chose the study of the past because he was convinced that only by delving into, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from bygone eras could Ukraine build a decent future.

In 2022, while serving in the Territorial Defense Forces and later in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yaroslav decided to become a teacher. "He wanted to teach school children," said Nataliia Savchenko, Yaroslav’s mother. "He continued his Master’s studies while serving in the military. Yaroslav was not obliged to serve, as he was still a student, but he simply could not resist enlisting." From the early days of the war, Savchenko and his best friend, Anton Prasolenko, also an actor at the Babylon Theater, joined the Kyiv Territorial Defense Forces. Anton Prasolenko died on March 30, 2023, at a military hospital in Kyiv due to injuries sustained while fighting near Bakhmut.

Yurii Terentyev, Savchenko’s brother-in-arms, recalled that he came to defend his thesis straight from the front. He rejoiced at having represented both his work and himself well, and at the university, they welcomed him as a hero. Yurii met Yaroslav at the beginning of the full-scale war in the Kyiv Territorial Defense. Jokingly, they called themselves the Berkovets Anti-Zombies in honor of the historical area of one of Kyiv's districts, the very area defended by the territorial defense unit in which Savchenko and Terentyev both served. "When Yaroslav and Anton came to us, they were two children. Sometimes, they would oversleep at the start of their shifts. They couldn’t stand seeing someone drinking instant coffee, so they’d say: "Throw it away, I’ll make you a proper one," Yurii laughed. In addition to acting in the Babylon Theater, Savchenko and Prasolenko worked as baristas in a coffee shop before February 2022.

"After the Russians were pushed out of northern Ukraine, we were redeployed to places that were even more dangerous at that time, asking who was ready. The guys did not doubt that they were going further," recalled Yurii. "Yaroslav and Anton became much stronger both physically and mentally. Later, Yaroslav started training as a mortarman, and he did well. He shot accurately, and he wasn’t afraid to be posted on the front lines."

During their military service, Yaroslav and Anton photographed daily life, their brothers-in-arms, and nature. After their deaths, the Babylon Theater released a printed calendar for 2024 called "Moments of Life" featuring their photos. The print run was sold out, and all proceeds were directed to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, particularly for the Babylon actors’ units who are still at war.

"There’s a special place in my heart for every person I love deeply, it is like a separate chair," Yaroslav wrote in his diary. It appears that even after his death, he continues to uphold what was an unwavering value for him—protecting those who mattered to him and his homeland.

**

"Am I happy? Yes, my friend! Life is beautiful! BABYLON!" his mother Nataliia read out Yaroslav’s words from his notebook.

Despite having chosen history as his profession, the theater remained his great love. From the age of 16, he took the stage in Netishyn and later in Kyiv when he entered the Drahomanov National Pedagogical University. Savchenko performed in eight plays at the Babylon. His favorite role was Pierre Kyrpatenko in the play "The Blessed Island of Savatiy Huska," which was based on Mykola Kulish’s play "How Huska Died." Yaroslav even adopted the call sign "Pierre" in the army.

In the storyline, Huska dreams of marrying off his seven daughters but sees only one worthy groom, a young student named Pierre, who shares his disdain for the Bolsheviks. "Yaroslav endowed this character with the same romantic qualities that he himself possessed," recalled Savchenko’s theater friend Dmytro Afanasiev.

"Yaroslav’s rendition of Pierre was so romantic that it didn’t match the character, the circumstances, or Kulish," added Iryna Savchenko, the director and artistic curator of the Babylon Theater. "However, in Yaroslav’s portrayal, Pierre the romantic turned out to be very organic, so we decided to present the character to the audience just like that."

"Yaroslav wanted to show true love and bright feelings on stage. That’s who he was—he wanted nothing bad to happen in the world," said Ivanna Rudenko, an actress and Yaroslav’s co-star in the play "The Blessed Island of Savatiy Huska."

It was very difficult for him to play negative characters—they didn’t match the young man’s bright nature. "There was an internal confrontation; Yaroslav resisted and became irritable. Ultimately, he did it because, as an actor, he had to explore himself through different roles," says the director.

However, Yaroslav's colleagues recall one situation where he let off a lot of steam. One day, they decided to clean up the backstage area, where they had accumulated a lot of unnecessary things, including Soviet paraphernalia. "What a pleasure it was for him to break all that peace-labor-May crap!" Iryna Savchenko smiled.

The most important thing that Yaroslav, like many other actors, gained from the Babylon Theater was its people—a sense of community, a place where he could express himself and where he would always be supported.

"Am I living my life right? Which path should I choose? I’m still pondering over this. But I want to do what I love. When I’m gone, I will leave behind what was in my heart," Yaroslav wrote in his diary in 2018 when he joined Kyiv’s Babylon Amateur Theater.

**

Savchenko adored impressionist painters. Diana Marusych, whom Yaroslav had known since childhood and with whom he attended an art school in Netishyn, recalled how much joy a virtual tour of an art exhibition brought him in the months leading up to his death. Diana recorded a video of an exhibition in a Lviv gallery and edited it to music and sent it to Yaroslav.

Music, in general, was a big part of Yaroslav’s life. Among the artists he often listened to were Billy Idol, KRUTЬ, Nytso Potvorno, Edith Piaf, Frank Sinatra, and David Bowie. Yaroslav’s style was to respond to messages with a song, and the composition usually complemented the mood, added to thoughts, and resonated with the emotions of those to whom the melody was addressed. Yaroslav felt connected to his people even from a distance. The performers of the group Lad, Vladyslav Pochebula and Anna Matviychuk, dedicated their song "Pierre" to Yaroslav. At the end of the music video, you can see Yaroslav’s childhood footage from his home archive and hear his voice reciting a poem by Serhiy Zhadan. Reading Ukrainian poetry was another of the young defender’s many passions.

**

"My son determined his values back in school: spirituality came first for him, followed by the state, and then family. On the morning of February 24, he wrote to me: "Mom, don’t worry, stay calm. The war has started, but we will expel the occupiers from our land. Everything will be fine," Savchenko said. "I am comforted by the thought that Yaroslav was true to himself from the very beginning to the very end."

"I no longer prefer just black from the entire spectrum of colors. I see beauty and elegance in each one of those. I don’t limit myself to liking one type of person. I find beauty and uniqueness in everyone. Before, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and saw only flaws. Now I see myself as a whole person." (excerpt from Yaroslav Savchenko’s application for residency in a co-living space, Kyiv, 2020).