Oleksiy Tsybko

Oleksiy Oleksandrovich Tsybko (; 19 March 1967 – 31 March 2022) was a Ukrainian rugby union international for the Ukraine national rugby union team from 1991 to 2003 who was killed during the retaking of Bucha from Russian forces.

Biography Tsybko was born in Smila, Ukraine to a single mother. He would later take on the surname of his adoptive father, Oleksandr Cybko. As a youth, Tsybko was involved in athletics as a javelin and discus thrower, setting a distance record for discus at age 13. At age 20, he learned about rugby after watching a game in Kiev. He soon joined RC Aviator and RC Argo as a player.

Tsybko would go on to make forty appearances for the Ukraine national rugby union team from 1991 until 2003, some as captain. In 2001, he married his wife Alla. There, he worked to develop the sport in the country. In 2007, he founded a rugby club in his hometown of Smila, where 600 children would go on to learn how to play rugby, with some competing as part of the national rugby team.

In 2014 he joined the Ukraine military forces to defend the Crimea from Russian forces. Viewing rugby as a philosophy of life, his military callsign was "Rugbyst".

On 29 October 2015, Tsybko became mayor of Smila, serving until 2020. In 2020, his daughter Sofia was born. He was buried at Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv.

Awards USSR Master of Sports, discus throwing 2022, "For Combat Merit" 2022, honoured with the Polish sports shield, "Gloria Heroibus"