Football’s global players association FIFPRO has announced two Ukrainian footballers have died defending their country following Russia’s invasion.
READ ALSO: Hoodlums Arrested For Threatening Katsina Resident With Kidnap And Demanding For N250,000
Fighting in Ukraine has entered a seventh day following Vladimir Putin’s call for a special operation to demilitarise and ‘denazify’ the country – a justification dismissed by Kyiv and the West as propaganda.
But now The International Federation of Professional Footballers has confirmed Vitalii Sapylo, 21, and Dmytro Martynenko, 25, lost their lives in combat and have become the first football casualties of the war.
A FIFPRO statement read: ‘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. May they both rest in peace.’
READ ALSO: Ukraine And Russia Commence Peace Talks At Belarusian Border
Sapylo – a goalkeeper who was part of third-division side Karpaty Lviv’s youth team – joined the Ukrainian army as a tank commander but is said to have died defending the capital Kyiv last Friday.
His club Karpaty Lviv labelled him a ‘hero‘ after announcing he had been killed in battle.
A club statement confirming his death was also released on just the second day of the invasion, adding: ‘We cherish the eternal memory of this hero.’
His father Roman Sapilo, 44, meanwhile told German outlet BILD: ‘He was such a happy, fun-loving boy. It was an airstrike by that damn Putin. He took my child from me.
(C)ControlTV2022.
