“Simply because they are Ukrainians.” Ukrainian athletes were attacked in Germany. One of them is killed

In Germany, 17-year-old Ukrainian basketball player Vladimir Ermakov was stabbed to death on the street; his friend Artem Kozachenko is in intensive care. The Kyiv Basketball Federation reported this on the night of Monday, February 12.

Athletes arrived for competitions

As the sports organization said, the attack occurred a few days ago in Dusseldorf, Germany, where young people arrived for a competition. Vladimir Ermakov and Artem Kozachenko played for the youth team ART Giants (U-19) from Dusseldorf.

On the eve of the next match, they were attacked with knives on the street simply because they were Ukrainians. The whole team spent the night in the hospital next to our guys. Unfortunately, doctors were unable to save Ermakov, and Kozachenko remains in intensive care

Kyiv Basketball Federation

Local police are already investigating the case, and there were witnesses at the crime scene.

According to the federation, the murdered Vladimir Ermakov played basketball and played in the children’s teams Teyvaz and 5T.EAM-DYUSSH-12. As a member of the Ukrainian youth team (U-16), he competed at the 2022 European Championships in Bulgaria.

Previously, Ukrainians have already been attacked in Western countries

This is not the first time that Ukrainians have been attacked in Western countries. Thus, in January last year, it was reported that a pregnant Ukrainian woman and her relatives were beaten in the Polish city of Lublin. According to preliminary data, the fight began after a group of people heard the accent of the victims. Two people approached the family and asked for a light, after which they began shouting obscenely at the family members to return to Ukraine.

In 2022, a Ukrainian refugee was beaten in Keizer, Oregon, after arguing with another man about whether the people of his country were Nazis. In 2021, a resident of Poland beat a Ukrainian until he lost consciousness for speaking his native language. After this, the attacker tried to escape, but eyewitnesses subdued him and handed him over to the police.