1979–2022
Vasyl Bohach
SBU officer, defender of Mariupol
His books about the war are signed “Ivan Bohdan”. SBU lieutenant colonel Vasyl Bohach from Volnovakha recorded the truth about the war from 2014, and in 2022 he defended Mariupol alongside Azov and was killed at Azovstal. Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).
Key accomplishments
- Served in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU); fought in the war in eastern Ukraine from 2014
- Under the pen name Ivan Bohdan published Mariupol 2014 (2016), Patriot Prisoners (2018) and On the Other Side of the Trenches (2020)
- Defended Mariupol alongside Azov fighters in 2022
- Order for Courage, 3rd class (2022)
- Hero of Ukraine (posthumously; Decree No. 326/2023)
Who is Ivan Bohdan?
Three books about the war in the Donbas carry the name Ivan Bohdan on their covers. They were actually written by Vasyl Bohach, an officer of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), call sign Domakha. He made up the pen name from his sons’ names. The first book, Mariupol 2014, came out in 2016; he later regretted having written it in russian. Patriot Prisoners (2018) and On the Other Side of the Trenches (2020) followed.
From Volnovakha to the war
Vasyl was born in 1979 in Volnovakha, in Donetsk Oblast. At nine he enrolled in a music school on his own, without telling his parents. He graduated from the University of Donetsk and served in the SBU. In 2014 he saw the so-called “Russian spring” in Mariupol with his own eyes, and from then on he was part of the war in eastern Ukraine. Those events became the subject of his first book.
Mariupol, 2022
When the full-scale invasion began, Lieutenant Colonel Bohach stayed in Mariupol. Together with the fighters of Azov, commanded by Denys Prokopenko, he defended the city. From the first days of the siege he posted updates, photos and videos: people queuing for water, ruined buildings, the city’s defenders. Those posts remain a record of the siege of Mariupol. In April 2022 he was awarded the Order for Courage, 3rd class.
On 4 April Bohach was badly wounded, and from then on he lay in the field hospital at the Azovstal steelworks. Lieutenant Colonel Vasyl Bohach was killed on 8 May 2022 at Azovstal, when a russian aerial bomb hit the hospital. He was 42. In 2023 he was made a Hero of Ukraine posthumously.
Why it matters today
Vasyl Bohach defended Ukraine with a weapon and with words. He wrote down what he saw in Mariupol in 2014 so it would not be forgotten, and in 2022 he stayed in the encircled city and kept telling the world what was happening there to the end. Even badly wounded, he went on showing how Azovstal’s defenders lived. His story is a reminder that the truth about a war, recorded in time, also defends a country.
