
Iryna Tsybukh Biography
Iryna Tsybukh was born in Lviv on June 1, 1998, and graduated from the Lviv Polytechnic National University.
Tsybukh completed multiple front-line rotations with the Hospitallers volunteer medical brigade in 2014.

“Only the brave find happiness,” said paramedic and journalist Iryna Tsybukh, who died at the front.
Suspicious journalist and Hospitallers volunteer medical battalion paramedic Iryna Tsybukh, also known as “Cheka,” was slain in Kharkiv.
“We can’t believe this. It feels like a dream. It appears that you will contact us now, and we will hear your voice.
Iryna “Cheka” Tsybukh, a Hospitaller, died a few days before her birthday while on a rotation in the Kharkiv region yesterday.
01.06.1998 — 29.05.2024. Our words fail to express our emotions. Nobody believes what occurred.
“This is an indescribable pain and an incredible loss not only for the battalion but for all of Ukraine,” battalion representatives wrote.
Her brother shared a message written by Iryna on his Instagram page today.
She wrote the letter in 2023. United 24 Media produced a translated version.
“To have the strength to be a free person, you must be courageous. Only the brave achieve happiness, and it is preferable to die running than to live rotting,” she wrote.
Iryna Tsybukh was born on June 1, 1998, in Lviv and graduated from Lviv Polytechnic National University.
Tsybukh worked with the Hospitallers volunteer medical battalion on multiple front-line deployments in 2014.
In 2017, she joined Suspilne’s journalistic team as a reform manager, recording documentaries, creating interregional specials, and managing grant initiatives.
Tsybukh spent her free time implementing educational programs in distant villages across the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Tsybukh returned to the battlefield as a member of the Hospitallers in February 2022, just after the full-scale assault began.
Iryna Tsybukh and her colleagues from Suspilne Media won the “Professional Honor” journalism competition in 2021 for the category “Best Publicist Writing in Local Media.”
In 2018, she was a nominee for “Best Reportage.”
In November 2023, she was granted the Order of Merit, III degree, by the President of Ukraine, and in March 2024, Tsybukh became the recipient of the “UP 100. The Power of Women” award.
A combat medic and activist Iryna Tsybukh killed in the Kharkiv Region
Iryna Tsybukh, a combat medic and public activist, was killed while on rotation near the front in Kharkiv Oblast on May 29, just a few days before her 26th birthday, the Hospitallers Medical Battalion announced on social media on May 30.
“This is an indescribable pain and an incredible loss not only for the battalion but for all of Ukraine,” the nurses wrote.
Tsybukh had more than 19,000 Instagram followers and was frequently featured in the media, where she discussed her wartime memories and work as a volunteer military medic.
President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Tsybukh the Order of Merit in November 2023 for her work as a military medic, which she characterized as “unexpected and unreal.”
Tsybukh routinely participated in public conversations about themes such as the role of women on the front lines and how to effectively memorialize those murdered in Russia’s invasion.
Before the full-scale invasion, Tsybukh worked as a media trainer and manager for Suspilne, Ukraine’s official broadcaster.
Tsybukh, originally from Lviv, worked with children and developed a video on youngsters growing up in villages in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, which was scheduled to be screened in Kyiv on February 25, 2022.
Tsybukh chose to join the Hospitallers after the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, having already served with the unit on multiple tours since 2014.
“I never wanted to be in a war,” Tsybukh stated in an interview with Elle Ukraine in July 2022.
“I’m a girl who enjoys traveling and working on educational projects for youngsters. I did not grow up dreaming of being a paramedic. “But Russian aggression forced me to defend my country,” Tsybukh stated.
