Yurii Ruf was a lecturer, scholar, poet, publisher, public figure, and soldier who gave his life defending Ukraine. He left behind a powerful creative legacy — poetry imbued with national dignity, historical memory, strength of spirit, and an uncompromising love for Ukraine.

In his works, the author reflects on Ukraine’s historical past and contemporary heroic events, exploring questions of national identity, responsibility, struggle, and choice. Through his poetry, he sought to provide answers to the difficult questions facing Ukrainians during times of profound hardship.

Within the academic community, Yurii Ruf was known by his real name, Yurii Romanovych Dadak. He held a PhD in Engineering and was an associate professor at the National Forestry University of Ukraine, specializing in woodworking and forestry. His professional and academic interests closely corresponded to the areas of activity of Faculty of Natural Sciences and Agrarian Sciences, particularly the Department of Landscape Gardening and Ecology. This created common academic ground for lecturers and researchers from the two universities.

These professional connections are especially significant for Nataliia Matsai, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agrarian Sciences, and the faculty community, who continue to develop cooperation with colleagues from the National Forestry University of Ukraine and support joint educational, research, and outreach initiatives. For Nataliia Matsai and the entire faculty community, preserving the memory of Yurii Ruf is at the same time an expression of respect for a fellow scholar, educator, patriot, and soldier.

Yurii Ruf devoted considerable attention to educational and outreach activities. He met with students, delivered lectures, and participated in patriotic discussions at higher education institutions across Ukraine. For him, scholarship, education, civic responsibility, and service to the state were inseparable parts of a single life path.

His military service holds a particularly painful significance for the university community at LTSNU. Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University has a historical and inseparable connection with the Luhansk region, while Yurii Ruf, serving with the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo, was killed in the Luhansk region, near Popasna.

For a university that has been relocated from its original home, this carries profound symbolic meaning. Yurii Ruf became one of the Ukrainian soldiers who defended the land with which LTSNU’s more than century-long history is inextricably connected.

The book donated to the university library is much more than a new addition to its collection. It represents a living memory of a scholar, educator, poet, and defender of Ukraine. It gives students, lecturers, and future generations of the university community an opportunity to engage with his words, understand his worldview, and feel the strength of a person for whom Ukraine was the purpose of his life.

Yurii Ruf’s poetry continues to resonate — sharply, honestly, and with undiminished relevance. Preserving his creative legacy in the university library is another testament to the fact that the memory of Ukraine’s Heroes lives not only in our hearts, but also through words, scholarship, education, and the work carried forward by future generations.

Marketing Department, LTSNU