BREAKING: Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina suffers heartbreaking personal loss as Russia resumes strikes on Kyiv
Elina Svitolina took to social media on Tuesday to share a devastating piece of news. The developments came from back home in Ukraine, with the top-10 player revealing that her sports club in Kyiv, SvitoPadel, had been destroyed amid the Russian aggression.
The Ukrainian, who has been one of the most vocal critics of Russia’s actions in Ukraine on the Tour, revealed that her club was actually among 942 such facilities to have been destroyed during the war.
Svitolina, in her Instagram post, also shared that as many as 776 athletes and sports officials from her country had also lost their lives since the outbreak of the war in 2022.
“As of today, 776 Ukrainian athletes and sports officials have been killed as a result of Russian aggression. 942 sports facilities across Ukraine have been damaged or completely destroyed. Today, my club, SVITO PADEL, became one of them,” Elina Svitolina wrote.
In an emotional message, Svitolina called for support for the sporting fraternity back home. Noting that many of them had nowhere to practice or train, she batted for “concrete actions” to stop the aggression.
“Ukrainian athletes and our young generation do not have the opportunity to train and prepare for international competitions on equal terms with athletes from other countries,” Elina Svitolina wrote.
