Kyiv, Ukraine
Reuters
Young soccer players in the city of Kharkiv are grieving over the death of their coach, killed by a Russian shell last week in an incident that highlights the heavy toll the war is inflicting on all areas of Ukrainian society, including sport.
“It hurt so much, it is as if I had lost a father,” said player Danil Kaskov, taking part in a match staged in honour of Andrii Doroshev, who died on 27th June when shells slammed into a residential area of Ukraine’s second biggest city.
“I hope he is watching over us from above, that we can make him proud. This tournament is a tribute to him, all the trophies are in his memory. Everything is for him,” he told Reuters.
Gennadiy Doroshev, 58, greets players during a “Heroes of Kharkiv” soccer tournament which honored Gennadiy’s twin brother, Andrey Doroshev, a beloved children’s soccer coach, who was killed in a shelling attack last week, as Russia’s attack continues in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 3rd July, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis
Long proud of its achievements in gymnastics, boxing, soccer and other sports, Ukraine is counting the cost of the war, now into its fifth month, on its sporting infrastructure and on its sportsmen and women.
Young players of the Olymp football club attend a training session at the Central stadium in the Irpin town, which was heavily damaged during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, on 6th July. PICTURE: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko.
UKRAINIAN KIDS PLAY SOCCER AGAIN IN BOMBED-OUT STADIUM
Ukrainian children have started playing soccer again in a bombed-out stadium outside Kyiv, a much-needed distraction after more than four months of war.
The Champion stadium was heavily damaged in the weeks that followed Russia’s invasion, when Russian forces reached the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital and occupied parts of the city of Irpin.
The stadium’s walls are still pockmarked with bullet holes, but much of the shrapnel has been cleared away and holes in the pitch from mortar bombs have been plugged.
Danylo Kysil, 26, a coach at the stadium and director of the Olymp Irpin team, took part in the clean-up.
“When we saw the stadium with the first people who came after the liberation, it was very grim. There was shrapnel and rubbish everywhere,” Kysil told Reuters after leading a group of around a dozen boys in soccer drills.
Asked how he felt when he welcomed the children back to training, Kysil said: “I needed to show everything was fine on the outside, so the kids wouldn’t feel my emotional exhaustion.”
Eleven-year-old Denys Voitovych, who plays in midfield for Olymp Irpin, said he was relieved to be back on the pitch.
“I’m very happy that we can play soccer now instead of staying home, playing games and watching stupid videos on the tablet,” he said.
Danyilo Rohalskyi, also 11, said he was enjoying being back among friends and having the chance to work on his soccer skills.
– YIMING WOO, Irpin, Ukraine/Reuters.
“More than 100,000 Ukrainian sportsmen have been deprived of any opportunity to train, hundreds of Ukrainian sports facilities have been destroyed,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, while hosting the head of the International Olympic Committee for talks in Kyiv.
“Many Ukrainian sportsmen joined the armed forces to protect our country, to defend it on the battlefield. Eighty-nine sportsmen and coaches have been killed in fighting, 13 have been captured and are being held captive by the Russians,” he said.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko, winner of multiple world heavyweight boxing championships, has played a prominent role alongside Zelenskiy in rallying Ukrainian resistance to the invasion, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.
His younger brother Wladimir, another world heavyweight boxing champion, enlisted in the Ukrainian reserve army shortly after the Russian invasion began on 24th February.
Destruction
Last week alone brought plenty of graphic images of the war’s destructive impact on Ukrainian sport.
Reuters video footage showed the sports complex of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute reduced to piles of concrete and twisted metal by what authorities said were multiple Russian missile strikes on 23rd June.
“Fire ripped across 200 square metres. Sports equipment, mats, floor, and wall cladding all caught fire. There were no casualties,” emergency service official Anatolii Torianyk told Reuters.
One Ukrainian serviceman said Russian forces were deliberately targeting large buildings such as sports halls and schools in the belief that they were being used by Ukraine’s armed forces.
Russian forces deny attacking civilian targets in Ukraine.
Other images circulating on social media in recent days have included one of a massive crater reportedly caused by Russian shelling of a soccer pitch in Mykolaiv, a southern city that has also seen particularly heavy Russian bombardment.
Team Hasy takes a moment before competing in the final match of the “Heroes of Kharkiv” soccer tournament which honoured Andrey Doroshev, a beloved children’s soccer coach, who was killed in a shelling attack last week, as Russia’s attack continues in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 3rd July. PICTURE: Reuters/Leah Millis
On his visit to Kyiv on Sunday, the IOC’s Thomas Bach said the organisation was ready to help with the reconstruction of Ukrainian sports facilities as he announced a tripling of a fund set up in February for that purpose, to $US7.5 million.
Bach also pledged support to Ukraine’s teams planning to take part in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and the winter Olympics expected to be held in Italy in 2026.
