various ukrainian athletes they have mobilized against the Russian invasion of their countryto the point that some have decided to take up arms, the case of Vitali Klitschko, former world boxing champion, who has traded in his Kiev mayor’s jacket for a uniform to organize the defense of his city and its 3 million inhabitants.
“I train all the time, I do training as a former officer and head of territorial defenseI know how to shoot with almost all weapons”, he declared on February 10 to the AFP. His younger brother, Wladimir, also a former boxing champion, has similarly joined the reservists.
The former lightweight champion, Vasyl Lomachenko, joined the territorial defense battalion from Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, near Odessa. The 34-year-old boxer appeared on Facebook dressed in a military uniform, with a machine gun on his shoulder.
Oleksandr Usyk, world heavyweight champion, also poses with a gun in his hand, on the Instagram account of the Kharkov boxing club about this message: “Oleksandr Usyk has joined the territorial defense of the capital and the Kiev region.”
Interviewed by the CNN From the cellar of his house, near Kiev, he declared that he wanted to “defend his house, his wife, his children and his relatives.” “I don’t want to shoot, I don’t want to kill”but in the event of an attack, he adds, “I will have no choice but to respond.”
The Ukrainian biathletes refused to contest the World Cup mid-March. In their social networks, Dmytro Pidruchnyi, world champion in pursuit in 2019, posted a photo in combat gear in Ternopil, western Ukraine, where he said he joined the National Guard.
In a statement published on Wednesday, the International Federation (IBU) reports that a young Ukrainian biathlete, Yevhen Malyshev, died this week in the line of duty in the army ukrainian He was 19 years old.
Sergei Stakhovsky, former number 31 in world tennis, has also joined “the territorial resistance”. “I have no experience with weapons in a private capacity,” the 36-year-old retired player declared through tears on Twitter. “I hope I don’t have to use a firearm,” he confessed to the British broadcaster on Tuesday. Radius 4.
Stakhovsky left his family in Hungary. “I don’t know how I did it. It is very hard for my wife. My kids don’t know I’m here. They don’t understand war,” she concluded.
the ukrainian Elina Svitolinwearing a blue skirt and yellow shirt, the colors of her country, defeated Russian Anastasia Potapova on Tuesday at the WTA tournament in Monterrey, Mexico. “All the bonuses I earn here will go to the army,” he declared. very excited under the applause of the public. “Now I am far from you, far from my neighbors, far from my people, but my heart is full of you”, she had written the day before on Twitter. “I am Ukraine, we are Ukraine.”
He received the support of the Russian champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who has shown his “disagreement” with this war. “I’m not afraid to say what my opinion is. I am against war and violence.”
Football players
Various players of the Ukrainian national team, among them the stars Oleksandr Zinchenko and Andrei Yarmolenkocalled to “resist” against the Russian invasion in a video published by the Ukrainian Federation (UAF).
“We ask everyone the football world to oppose Russian propagandashow the truth about the war in Ukraine by all possible means”, cried 13 “Zbirna” players.
Zinchenko (Manchester City), Yarmolenko (Westham), Ruslan Malinovskyi (Atalanta) and Andriy Pyatov (Shakhtar Donetsk) among others appear in a two-minute clip, interrupted by images of the conflict.
Several of these international have raised 500,000 euros ($558,300) for the armed forces ukrainian
The Ukrainian coach of the Moldovan club Sheriff of Tiraspol, Yuriy Vernydub, he returned to his country of origin to participate in his defense.
Ukrainian deputy coach of Dynamo Moscow, Andriy Voronin, left his post to go to Germany. Voronin declared to the German newspaper bild what “He could not continue working in the country that bombards his homeland.” Words that recall those of Ivica Osim, born in Sarajevo, when he tendered his resignation as Yugoslavia coach in 1992.
Andrey Shevchenko, the former star striker for Dynamo Kyiv, AC Milan and former Ukraine coach is very active on social media, which he uses to spread messages of support for their country every day.
The 2004 Ballon d’Or, who played for Chelsea during the last years of his career, took part in a demonstration in London on Sunday, where he posed in a photo together with a flag on his back with one of his sons.
On Tuesday night, before the first leg of the Coppa Italia between AC Milan and Inter (0-0), the former Rossoneri appeared in a video message, draped in a blue and yellow flag, calling for peace under the applause of San Siro.
After his sports retirement, Shevchenko tried to start a political career, but he did not fail in his bid to become a deputy of the Ukrainian parliament in 2012.
more discreet, Sergei Bubkapole vault legend and president of the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee (NOC), shared on Twitter the call to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions, launched on Monday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
In a previous message, posted on the third day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the first man in history to have cleared the 6-meter bar showed his appreciation for the messages of support coming from all over the world. “War must cease, peace and humanity must prevail,” he added. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
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