‘We will never forget.’ Ukrainian poet and soldier Maksym Kryvtsov killed at the frontline

Ukrainian poet, photographer and soldier Maksym Kryvtsov who enlisted in 2014 was killed by Russian forces at the front, according to Facebook post Sunday (text in Ukrainian: “Darkness… there’s no light… there’s no day…”) by Kryvtsov’s mother Nadiia Kryvtsova.

News of his death reverberated across social media.

“Maksym Kryvtsov was a wonderful poet and Ukrainian defender. He was killed today defending us from erasure. We won’t fade away. We won’t fade away. We won’t fade away. And we will never forget,” Dr. Sasha Dovzhyk, of the Ukrainian Institute in London, wrote in a post on X.

Maksym Kryvtsov (call sign Dali) participated in the Revolution of Dignity and joined the Right Sector, Ukrainian volunteer corps, after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014. Later, after returning to civilian life, he worked he worked for a program that helps to rehabilitate and reintegrate veterans into society, and also enjoyed spending time as a instructor at Strokati Yenoty, an “adventure camp” for children founded by fellow Ukrainian Volunteer Corps member Oleksandr Chub.

His first collection of poems, “Poetry From the Loop-hole,” was recently published by the Nash Format Publishing House and was included in PEN Ukraine list of the best Ukrainian books of the year.

Maksym Kryvtsov and his poetry book “Poetry From the Loop-hole”

“It has since sold out,” Ukrainian film director Iryna Tsilyk wrote on her Facebook page (text in Ukrainian). Tsilyk also noted readers often buy books by Ukrainian poets in one day when they die.

The poem “He Moved to Bucha ” was filmed in the first film of the series “War the Glutton” (Babylon’13 Documentary Film Association).

He wrote the lyrics to the song “Yellow Sticky Tape” for the band Yurcash. The band also performs other songs based on poems by Maksym Kryvtsov.

RELATED: Echoes from the frontline: Maksym Kryvtsov on war, poetry, and why Ukrainian youth give him hope

The poet’s poems were published in the collections “Book: Love 2.0. Love and War”, “There, where you are at home: 112 Poems about Love and War”, “Lullaby of the 21st Century Vol. 1: What Lulls You to Sleep?”, “Between the Air Raid Alerts. New Poems of War”.

Yesterday, Russians killed Ukrainian poet and soldier Maksym Kryvtsov. He was 33.

Maksym took part in the Revolution of Dignity and joined the army as a volunteer fighter in 2014.

Listen to him read his poem "Where are my dreams?" pic.twitter.com/tSXeHetZbk

— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) January 8, 2024

Image: Maksym Kryvtsov’s Facebook page