Oleh Ivanovych Babiy (22 October 1990 – 30 August 2023) was a Ukrainian military officer,

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine, and a participant in the military defence of Ukraine after the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

. He was posthumously conferred the title of

Hero of Ukraine A Hero of Ukraine (HOU; ) is the highest national decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the president of Ukraine. The decoration was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma. As of 6 June 2025, the total number of re ...

with the Order of the Gold Star.

Biography

Babiy was born on 22 October 1990 in

Milovice Milovice (; ) is a town in Nymburk District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. In the 20th century, the history of the town was influenced by the presence of a military base. In the 21st century ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. In 2011, he graduated from the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi Ground Forces Academy. He had been participating in the

since 2014. From the first days of the full-scale

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

in 2022, he organised and carried out special operations in the

Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine The Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are areas of southern and eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the ongoing invasion. In Ukrainian law, they are defined as the "temporarily occu ...

and in Russia, for which he was repeatedly awarded. As of February 2017, he held the position of commander of a patrol platoon with the vehicles of the 1st Patrol Battalion, 45th Operational Purpose Regiment of the

National Guard of Ukraine The National Guard of Ukraine (NGU; , ; /NHU ) is the Ukrainian national gendarmerie and internal military force. It is part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, responsible for public security. Originally created as an agency under the dire ...

. With the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, he continued to perform combat missions, with nine successful

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

missions behind enemy lines, twelve special events to organise and support the resistance movement in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and behind enemy lines. Thanks to the successful completion of the missions, Colonel Babiy's group managed to disorganise the logistics of the occupation forces, destroy its important facilities and elements of critical infrastructure. Babiy's last operation was the destruction of a Russian

Tupolev Tu-22M The Tupolev Tu-22M (; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev, Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. The bomber was reported as being designated ...

3 bomber, and the disabling of two more, which, according to Ukraine, "completely destabilised the operation of airfields and long-range aviation bases" and reduced Russia's ability to launch missile strikes with

Kh-22 The Kh-22 "Storm" (, NATO reporting name AS-4 'Kitchen') is a large, long-range anti-ship cruise missile developed by MKB Raduga in the Soviet Union. It was designed for use against aircraft carriers and carrier battle groups, with either a con ...

missiles against Ukraine. In the course of the task, on 30 August 2023, the intelligence group headed by Babiy engaged in a battle with Russian special agents of the

Federal Security Service The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation �СБ, ФСБ России (FSB) is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB; its immediate predecessor was the Federal Counterin ...

. While covering the retreat of his comrades, Babiy was mortally wounded. For his heroic deeds, he was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine with the posthumous award of the Order of the Golden Star. Babiy is survived by his wife and two small children. Their youngest daughter was only one year old at the time of her father's death.

Awards and decorations

On 15 July 2014, by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 593/2014, he was awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 3rd class, for personal courage and heroism in the defence of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath during the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine. *

Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky The Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky () is a Ukrainian military award named after Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks. The award was established on May 3, 1995 by Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma to commemorate the 50th anniversar ...

3rd, 2nd, 1st classes; *

Order for Courage The Order for Courage () is a Ukrainian award established by Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma on August 21, 1996. Design by Ukrainian artist Mykola Lebid. Awards of the President of Ukraine for Courage Before August, 1996, personal bravery ha ...

, 3rd class; * Commemorative sign "For Military Valor"; * Commemorative sign "For Courage in the Performance of Special Tasks"; * Badge "Participant of the Anti-Terrorist Operation"; * Medal "For Participation in the 'Svitlodarsk Arc' Battles"; * The title of

with the posthumous award of the Order of the Golden Star.

Legacy

On 22 January 2024, on the

Day of Unity of Ukraine The Unification Act (, ; or , ) was an agreement signed by the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian People's Republic in Sophia Square in Kyiv on 22 January 1919. Since 1999, it is celebrated every year as the Day of Unity of Ukrai ...

, a memorial plaque in his honour was unveiled on the facade of School No. 49 in

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

, where Oleh Babiy studied. On 4 July 2024, the

Lviv City Council The Lviv City Council () is the municipal council that governs the Ukrainian city of Lviv. The council has 64 seats and is elected every 5 years. History On May 19, 2011, the Lviv City Council voted in favor of expanding the jurisdiction of th ...

adopted a decision to name a garden square in the Lviv district of Sykhiv after Oleh Babiy.

References

External links

Declarations

Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Reveals Operation Details to Neutralize Tu-22M3 Bombers
at Militarnyi {{DEFAULTSORT:Babiy, Oleh 1990 births 2023 deaths Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Ground Forces Academy alumni People from Milovice (Nymburk District) People of the National Guard of Ukraine Recipients of the Order For Courage, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Gold Star (Ukraine) Ukrainian colonels Ukrainian military personnel killed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Ukrainian military personnel of the war in Donbas