Iryna Tsybukh posthumously awarded the Ukrainian Women's Congress prize for leadership

Photo by Iryna Tsybukh on Facebook

Iryna Tsybukh, media professional and paramedic at the volunteer battalion "Hospitaliers", was posthumously awarded Mary O'Hagan Prize for outstanding achievements in the development of gender equality and women's leadership by the Ukrainian Women's Congress, reports the UWC.

The award was received by her mother, Oksana Tsybukh, at the eighth Ukrainian Women's Congress.

"Irynka was supposed to be here with you today. She was competent in many areas, but her life, like the lives of thousands of others, was taken by Russia. As Irynka used to say, mourning the people we lost imposes a responsibility on us. It is the responsibility of the living before the dead: to bear witness to what happened and to the evil we faced. It is an extremely difficult task for you and me to work for our sake and for theirs," said Oksana Tsybukh.

She also spoke about her daughter's vision for Ukrainian education, commemoration and celebration of fallen heroes, and the country's future. Shortly before her death, Iryna Tsybukh prepared her own lecture on the importance of memory and commemorating the dead and actively advocated this topic.

Iryna became a frontline paramedic back in 2017. With the start of the full-scale war, this became her full-time work. Iryna died in the line of duty in May 2024 in Kharkiv oblast, aged 25. The paramedic saved many soldiers, repeatedly risking her own life during evacuations.

Mary O'Hagan worked in Ukraine for five years following the Revolution of Dignity as the head of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) office in Ukraine, was awarded the UWC award for outstanding achievements in the development of gender equality and women's leadership. This award was first given last year to doctor and volunteer Natalya Lelyukh.

Previously

Journalist and paramedic Iryna Tsybukh (call sign Grenade Pin) was killed in action in Kharkiv oblast on May 29.

Iryna Tsybukh was the regional broadcasting department manager at Suspilne, worked with Hromadske Radio, and was a paramedic at the medical battalion "Hospitaliers".

On November 16, 2023, on Television, Radio, and Communications Day, Iryna was awarded the Order of Merit.

In her December 2022 interview with IMI, she said, "I would like to praise those journalists who didn't leave the field, keep working with their outlets, stay to tell stories for the Ukrainian audience as well, knowing it better than anyone, and to tell them 'thank you'. These colleagues have my great respect."