Promising Ukrainian decathlon champion and ‘true hero’ who ‘could have gone to the Paris Olympics’ dies in battle
- Volodymyr Androshchuk, 22, died in combat near Bakhmut on January 25
- He was a “promising” decathlete who “could have gone to the Paris Olympics”
A promising Ukrainian decathlon champion and “true hero” who “could have gone to the Paris Olympics” has died in battle.
Volodymyr Androshchuk, a U20 decathlon champion, died near Bakhmut on January 25.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine tweeted: “A promising athlete and a true hero.
“He could have competed in the Paris Olympics if Russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine.
“Why do the Russians still have this privilege?”
Volodymyr Androshchuk, a U20 decathlon champion, died in combat near Bakhmut on January 25
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine tweeted: “A promising athlete and a true hero. He could have competed in the Paris Olympics if Russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine.
Anton Gerashchenko, former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Ukraine, paid tribute to the athlete.
He said: “Volodymyr Androshchuk, Ukrainian track and field athlete, member of the national team, died in combat near Bakhmut.
“RIP, Volodymyr. We keep losing our best people.’
Family and friends of 22-year-old Mr Androshchuk bid farewell to the athlete-turned-soldier on Wednesday.
They were seen crying as they lined up by his open coffin.
At his funeral in Letychiv, western Ukraine, friends of his passionately declared that the Russians should be banned from the Olympics next year.
They said they were bitter that Mr Androshchuk missed the chance to compete on the world’s most prestigious sports stage.
Mr Androshchuk volunteered for the military and was hit by shrapnel in Bakhmut last week.
It comes as a pro-Putin mercenary who brandished the “skull of a dead Ukrainian” in front of the crowd and called for the killing of civilians was shot in the head.
Igor Mangushev, 36, is “in serious condition” after the possible “warning hit”.
In the early hours of Saturday, Mangushev was rushed to a hospital in Stakhanov in Russia’s eastern Donetsk region with a gunshot wound to the head, The Telegraph reports.
Graphic images showing Mangushev lying bloodied on a hospital bed were shared on social media by his friend Boris Rozhkin, who has described his condition as “severe”.
Family and friends of 22-year-old Mr Androshchuk bid farewell to the athlete-turned-soldier on Wednesday (pictured: a comrade holding a photo of Mr Androshchuk).
At his funeral in Letychiv, western Ukraine, friends of his passionately declared that the Russians should be banned from the Olympics next year
Pro-Putin activist Mangushev swore in his sick swearword, “We’ll make a goblet out of your skull.”
Doctors reportedly determined he was shot point-blank by someone with a pistol. Further details of the attack are not known at this time.
Mangushev sparked disgust last August when footage emerged of him apparently waving on stage with the skull of a Ukrainian soldier killed in Mariupol.
The twisted ultranationalist said: “Why can’t there be reconciliation?
“Ukraine must be de-Ukrainized. The Russian lands of Novorossiya must be returned.
“We are not at war with men of blood and flesh. We are at war with an idea – Ukraine as an anti-Russian state.”
Holding the skull, he was quoted by Astra media as saying: “We are alive and this guy is already dead.
“Let him burn in hell. He wasn’t lucky. We’ll make a goblet out of his skull.”