Zane Shoppell

If sport is out of politics, why does Russia kill Ukrainian athletes? Bodybuilder Lyudmila Chernetskaya was killed by a rocket attack in Odesa. FC Gostomel player Dmytro Martynenko was killed in Kyiv region as a result of a Russian bomb that hit his house. A 14-year-old weightlifting athlete, Alina Peregudova, was killed in the besieged Mariupol during shelling. In Irpin, Russian invaders shot and killed Ukrainian boxer and children's coach Oleksiy Dzhunkovsky. In Kharkiv, 19-year-old Vladislav Shapovalov was killed by Russian occupiers during shelling. He was engaged in kettlebell lifting. In Irpin, Oleksandr Sheremet, the coach of the national team of schoolchildren of Ukraine and the Irpin children's and youth orienteering school, died. In Melitopol, floorball player Viktor Katanchyk died after being seriously injured during a rocket attack on the city. Ukrainian athlete and former captain of the Ukrainian water polo team Yevhen Obedinsky died in Mariupol at the age of 39. He was shot dead by Russian soldiers on the balcony of his apartment. In Mariupol, 11-year-old Ukrainian gymnast Kateryna Dyachenko was killed. Sambo wrestler Artem Pryimenko was killed in a rocket attack on a residential sector of Sumy. A 20-year-old Ukrainian champion in sports dancing, Daria Kurdel, was killed in the shelling of the Ingulets district. A Russian missile attack on the village of Serhiivka in Odesa region killed football coach Oleksandr Shyshkov. Valentyn Voznyuk, a track and field coach and director of the Specialized Children's and Youth Sports School of the Olympic Reserve No. 3 of the Dnipro City Council, was killed with his wife during a Russian terrorist attack on the city of Dnipro. In Dnipro, 15-year-old Maria Lebid, a ballroom dancer, was killed in a Russian missile attack on a residential high-rise building. Anastasia Ihnatenko, an athlete, coach and judge in sports acrobatics, was killed in a terrorist attack in Dnipro. During the shelling of Kharkiv, 21-year-old Anastasia Goncharova, a multiple Ukrainian cycling champion, was killed in the street. In Kherson, 12-year-old Arina Shnabska, a prize-winner at the Ukrainian junior taekwondo championship, was killed in the shelling. During the shelling of Kyiv, 9-year-old Victoria Ivashko was killed. She was engaged in judo. She died on International Children's Day. And this is not to mention the athletes who were crippled by Russia and who stood up to defend Ukraine and died (about 300 of them). The photo shows 7-year-old gymnast Oleksandra Paskal from Chornomorsk, who lost her leg due to shelling in Odesa region. She was fitted with a prosthesis and returned to competitions. I wouldn't be surprised if another "neutral flag" representative demands to shake hands at one of them. Information by Maryna Kurylchuk