Shakhtar Donetsk have confirmed a youth coach has died defending Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade neighboring Ukraine last Thursday, 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.”
The news comes 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.”
