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The Global Profile
Serhiy Zhadan, 50, is a beloved Ukrainian poet as well as a novelist, lyricist and rock star. Furious over the invasion, he enlisted to fight even as his band still plays and his readings fill halls.
By Carlotta Gall and Oleksandr Chubko
A team of reporters followed Serhiy Zhadan, Ukraine’s leading poet and rock star, over several months, attending concerts and poetry readings in Kyiv, Ukraine, and his home city of Kharkiv, and driving out on an operation with the Khartia National Guard Brigade, in which he serves.
Sept. 24, 2024, 5:02 a.m. ET
When the Ukrainian army hit a crisis of recruitment earlier this year amid rising losses on the battlefield, one of the most popular cultural personalities in the country stepped up and enlisted.
“At some point it became uncomfortable not to join up,” said Serhiy Zhadan, in an interview at a military base in July.
A beloved poet, novelist, lyricist and rock star in Ukraine, Mr. Zhadan, 50, joined a local National Guard brigade in his home city of Kharkiv in May and started a two-month stint in boot camp. By summer he was serving in an engineering unit on the second line of defense.
Many of his friends were already fighting, he said of his decision to enlist. “This feeling that someone is fighting for you, instead of you, while you are also able to join, was also important.”
Although he said he did not intend to set an example, Mr. Zhadan’s decision to join the army resonated with many, across generations and with lovers of both his words and music.
He can fill a sports hall or a Kyiv theater for poetry readings, as he did on occasions this summer, and his rock band was acclaimed for delivering the best set at the Atlas music festival, Ukraine’s largest, in July. Proceeds of his performances go toward buying medical supplies and other equipment for the soldiers.
