It has been reported that Ukraine’s world-class kickboxing champion has died from injuries sustained while fighting Russian forces.
According to foreign media such as CNN and Newsweek on the 1st (local time), Mayor Ruslan Marchinkiu of Ivano-Frankivitz, a city in western Ukraine, posted on Facebook that day when Vitaly Merinou (32), former world champion kickboxing, was injured during a fight on the 31st of last month, he said he died in hospital.
Merinow is a world famous kickboxer who has been crowned kickboxing world champion four times. Ivano Frankivitz, who was also a member of parliament during his lifetime, went to the battlefield to defend the country on the first day of the Russian invasion.
After being shot in the leg during the battle, Merinou recovered and returned to the front line to defend himself, but eventually died. Mayor Marchinkiu did not say in what kind of fight Merino was injured.
“It is an irreparable loss for the community of Ivano Frankivitz,” said the mayor. “He leaves behind a wife and a two-year-old daughter. I will always remember the hero.”
During the war, Merinou reported the battle situation through his Instagram. The last post was a video uploaded on the 27th of last month, just four days before he died.
When Russia invaded in February last year, there were a series of cases in Ukraine where ordinary people who had nothing to do with the army voluntarily enlisted to defend their country. In the process, the Ukrainian military is known to have suffered significant loss of life.
Earlier, Sebastian Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), announced early last month that 185 athletes had died in Ukraine alone after the start of the war in February last year.
