1969–2022
Iryna Tsvila
Photographer, volunteer “Linza”
Her surname means “blossomed”, and she grew roses for a living. A teacher who photographed the Maidan protests, Iryna Tsvila volunteered for the Sich battalion in 2014. She was killed in the first days of the full-scale war, defending Irpin.
Key accomplishments
- Teacher at the Meridian international school in Kyiv, then a landscape designer of rose gardens and greenhouses
- Photographed the Revolution of Dignity
- Volunteer with the Sich battalion from 2014, call sign “Linza” (“Lens”)
- Defended the Kyiv region from the first days of the full-scale invasion
- Order for Courage, 3rd class (posthumously; Decree No. 689/2022)
Easy to remember
“Tsvila kalyna, tsvila Iryna”: the guelder rose blossomed, and so did Iryna. That was how Iryna Tsvila liked to introduce herself, because her surname sounds like the Ukrainian word for “blossomed”. Born in 1969 in Brovary, near Kyiv, she trained as a teacher and taught primary pupils at the Meridian international school in Kyiv. Later she became a landscape designer, planting rose gardens and greenhouses and collecting some 500 rare varieties of roses.
From the camera to the trenches
During the Revolution of Dignity, the 2013–2014 protests on Kyiv’s Maidan, Iryna documented events with her camera. In 2014 she volunteered for the front and served with the Sich battalion (later the “Kyiv” special-purpose regiment). Her comrades knew her by the call sign “Linza”, “Lens”.
Back home, she returned to her garden and, with her daughter, opened a workshop called Verba, making jewellery from real pressed flowers set in resin. Her daughter says they wanted a Ukrainian name, tied to their own culture and language.
The first days of the full-scale war
On 24 February 2022 Iryna and her husband joined the defence of the Kyiv region. Iryna Tsvila was killed on 25 February 2022 in the fighting for Irpin. She was 52.
How she is remembered
In October 2022 the President awarded her the Order for Courage, 3rd class, posthumously. A friend remembers her saying: “Even in peacetime we can all do what we know how to do, and bring victory closer one way or another.”
