Ukrainian tennis player Dayana Yastremska revealed that her family’s apartment was destroyed by a Russian missile on Friday evening.
Yastremska, who reached the Australian Open semi-final in 2024, took to Instagram to share videos and images of the severely damaged apartment building in Odensa, which was on fire as a result of a direct hit from the missile.
Odensa has been repeatedly targeted by Russian since their invasion of Ukraine in November 2022 due to its significance as a port in the Black Sea.
“This is what the “Russian world” looks like,” Yastremska wrote. “A direct hit by a Kalibr cruise missile. A Russian missile destroyed our apartment in Odesa.
“The only thing that survived was a Roland Garros towel. SYMBOLIC.
“A piece of world tennis survived a Russian missile. Our home did not.”
Yastremska, who has ranked as high as World No 21 during her career, tagged the WTA and ITF in the post and said: “Look at these images through our eyes. This is the true meaning of your ‘neutrality’ — from the Ukrainian side of the court.”
Russian and Belarusian players have been allowed to compete in international events without representing their nation since the invasion, even though the countries’ tennis federations remain suspended from ITF membership.
The 26-year-old went through a similar incident in January 2024 when her grandmother’s Odensa apartment building was struck by a missile.
Yastremska is also not the only Ukrainian player to be directly impacted by the conflict, with Marta Kostyuk revealing a rocket exploded a mere 100 metres from her parents’ home in Kyiv hours before her first-round match in this year’s French Open.
Kostyuk later blasted Russian players for hiding behind silence over the war, saying: “There is nothing that’s stopping you if this is something you don’t believe in. After four years, I think they’ve made it very clear whose side they are on.”
