1990–2022
Maksym Yalovtsov
Athlete and volunteer, “Rugbyist”
A rugby player for Aviator, a Master of Sport in grappling and a leader of Dynamo Kyiv fans, he taught civilians to handle weapons safely even before the war. Maksym Yalovtsov defended Kyiv from the first days of the invasion, then fought behind enemy lines. Killed in 2022.
Key accomplishments
- Played for the first team of the Aviator rugby club (Kyiv) in the top division of the Ukrainian championship
- Master of Sport of Ukraine in grappling, free fight and mixed martial arts; medalist at World and European championships in pankration and Brazilian jiu-jitsu
- Founder of the Civil Safety (Tsyvilna bezpeka) organization, whose Civil Safety Academy taught civilians to handle firearms safely
- Volunteer in the defense of Kyiv in 2022
- Order for Courage, 3rd class (posthumously, Decree No. 81/2023 of 15 February 2023)
The athlete who taught civilians
Did you know that, even before the full-scale war, Maksym Yalovtsov was teaching civilians to handle weapons safely? He founded the organization Civil Safety, whose Civil Safety Academy helped people learn those skills. Maksym himself taught grappling there.
Rugby, combat sports and Dynamo
Maksym was born in 1990. According to the Memorial platform, he was born in Russia, and when he was one his family moved to the Donetsk region. He grew up in Torez (now Chystiakove), and in 2002 the family moved to Kyiv. As a boy he played football and supported Dynamo Kyiv. Later he took up rugby and played in the first team of Aviator in Ukraine’s top division. He became a Master of Sport of Ukraine in grappling, free fight and mixed martial arts, and won medals at world and European championships in pankration and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
A volunteer from day one
When the full-scale invasion began, Maksym and like-minded friends, many of them Dynamo fans, gathered groups of volunteers. From the first days they defended Kyiv in the Mriia volunteer unit. Later Private Yalovtsov, call sign “Rugbyist”, carried out missions behind enemy lines. Sources differ on where he served: the award decree lists him among National Guard servicemen, while Memorial names him as a fighter of the Defence Intelligence Directorate.
Maksym Yalovtsov was killed on 21 September 2022 during a mission on the Zaporizhzhia front. He was 32.
How he is remembered
He was buried on the Alley of Glory at Lisove Cemetery in Kyiv. He was posthumously awarded the Order for Courage, 3rd class, and the Kyiv mayor’s badge “For Assisting the Defense of Kyiv”, and he was posthumously given a black belt in jiu-jitsu. In Odesa the One Touch jiu-jitsu academy held a tournament in memory of Maksym and his comrade Yevhenii Brakh, “Mali”, who was killed with him. In September 2023 a mural in his honor appeared on Myloslavska Street in Kyiv’s Troieshchyna district. His story is kept by Angels of Sport, a project of the Sports Committee of Ukraine.
