Two Ukrainian footballers, identified as Vitalii Sapylo and Dmytro Martynenko, have been killed by a Russian airstrike in Kyiv.
FIFPRO, a global players’ union, announced the incident on Wednesday.
It said the pair were “football’s first casualties” of the conflict, which began on Thursday last week.
Sapylo, a 21-year-old goalkeeper with third-tier side Karpaty Lviv, died in Kyiv last Friday after joining the army as a tank commander, while, 25-year-old Martynenko, who last played for second-tier FC Gostomel, was reportedly killed alongside his mother after Russian bombs hit his home in an apartment block in the capital.
“Our thoughts are with the families, friends, and teammates of young Ukrainian footballers Vitalii Sapylo (21) and Dmytro Martynenko (25), football’s first reported losses in this war. May they both rest in peace,” FIFPRO said in a statement.
