Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club have said their youth coach been killed while defending Ukraine’s sovereignty.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade neighboring Ukraine last Thursday February 24, triggering a bloody war in eastern Europe.
“One of our employees was killed, he was a children’s coach,” confirmed Shakhtar CEO Serhyi Palkin on Thursday evening. “He was hit by a fragment of a Russian bullet.”
This publication reports that this is coming just two days after two Ukrainian footballers were killed in the conflict.
“Our thoughts are with the families, friends and team-mates of young Ukrainian footballers Vitalii Sapylo and Dmytro Martynenko, football’s first reported losses in this war,” read a FIFPRO statement.
“May they both rest in peace.”
The Ukrainian Premier League is currently suspended due to Russia’s invasion. Shakhtar are top of the table, two points ahead of defending champions Dynamo Kyiv.