Author: Ihor Stelmach

When news broke in the hockey world on September 22, the immediate reaction was that Nikita Zadorov will not be returning home to Russia any time soon, if at all. On the first day of the Calgary Flames’ 2023 training camp, the Russian defenseman spoke candidly about his opposition to Russia’s war on Ukraine during...

Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh took flight and won the women’s high jump at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., on September 17, repeating as Diamond League champion in the event. The competition for medals was reduced by 50 percent with the bar at 1.95 meters when three competitors, including Ukrainian Yulia Levchenko, bowed out. Mahuchikh, Australian...

Ukraine sent four athletes to the 2023 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Netanya, Israel, on September 4-9. Ukraine won a total of three medals (two gold and one silver) and all were won by Oleksandr Zheltiakov in three backstroke events. Zheltiakov lowered his own national record to 53.73 seconds in the 100-meter backstroke while...

The Invictus Games is an adaptive multi-sport competition for wounded veteran and active military personnel. The sixth edition of the Invictus Games took place in Dusseldorf, Germany, on September 9-16 with 21 nations and some 550 competitors. Team Ukraine was represented by 25 athletes. Support for Ukraine was evident from the very first moments of...

In a gesture of solidarity with the country of her birth, Ukraine-born Maryna Zanevska refused to shake Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka’s hand after losing her farewell tennis match at the 2023 U.S. Open on August 29. The 30-year-old Zanevska represents Belgium, but was born in Odesa, Ukraine. At the conclusion of her 3-6, 2-6 loss to...

Following a disappointing draw with North Macedonia, Italy rebounded with an impressive performance in beating Ukraine 2-1 in a 2024 European Championship qualifying match played in San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy, on September 12. In the 12th minute, Davide Frattesi scored the first of his two goals when Mattia Zaccagni took advantage of a...

Ukrainian Taekwon-do Union President Valentyn Zorba had the opportunity to address the International Taekwon-do Federation (ITF) Congress in Tampere, Finland, on September 5. In his speech, he thanked member nations for their support during the Russian invasion. Zorba delivered his address at the end of the Congress upon the conclusion of the official agenda that...

At the entrance to Stadion Wroclaw there stands a banner recalling the venue’s role in Euro 2012 when Poland and Ukraine co-hosted the gala event. In that earlier time, Europe’s most popular sport was being played in Wroclaw, Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Donetsk, among other cities. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had a significant effect...

Ukraine’s powerlifters dominated the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) World Games to help propel the country to the top of the medal table with 31 gold medals and a total of 45 medals (11 silver and three bronze medals). The seventh edition of the Games, held every four years, took place in Birmingham, England, on...

Seventeen-year-old twins Dmytro and Maksym Chubenko survived Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early March 2022 when a bomb blasted into a house some 15 minutes from where they lived in Dnipro, killing a friend of their father’s. The invasion forced them to flee their home, escaping to Croatia, where they lived for almost nine months...

It was an emotional night in Wroclaw, Poland on August 27, 2023 at the Stadion Wroclaw where some 40,000 boxing fans, many of them Ukrainian refugees, gathered to witness a heavyweight battle between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois. It ended up a joyous occasion for the Ukrainian Usyk who knocked out Dubois in the ninth...

It was quite an emotional close to the 2023 World Athletics Championships on August 27 in Budapest, Hungary. Ukraine’s war against Russia hovers over the Olympic world today as much as anywhere else, and this made it most appropriate that the last athlete standing in the last event of the final day of the championships...