Yevhen Malyshev, 19-year-old Ukrainian biathlete, dies while fighting Russian invasion

Yevhen Malyshev, a 19-year-old former Ukrainian biathlete, has died while serving in the nation’s military against the Russian invasion, officials said on Wednesday. 

“The Federation reports the tragic death of a member of the national team of Ukraine of the Kharkiv juniors, Yevhen Malyshev, born in 2002. The athlete ended his career two years ago. We express our deepest condolences to his family, friends and loved ones. Eternal memory,” the Ukrainian Biathlon Federation said in a press release. The circumstances of his passing were, however, unclear. 

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The 19-year-old raced for the country’s biathlon junior team in 2018. His career came to an end two years later due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

“The EB once again condemns the Russian attacks on Ukraine and the support provided by Belarus and reiterates its hope for an immediate end to the war,” International Biathlon Union said in a statement. 

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Several other Ukrainian athletes have also joined the military and taken up arms to defend the country against the Russian invasion. This includes star boxers Oleksandr Usyk, Vasyl Lomachenko, Vitali Klitschko, and Wladimir Klitschko.

Speaking to CNN via a video link from a basement in Kyiv, Usyk said he was prepared to take a life if needed

“If they will want to take my life, or the lives of my close ones, I will have to do it, But I don’t want that. I don’t want to shoot, I don’t want to kill anybody, but if they will be killing me, I will have no choice,” he told CNN on Wednesday.