Dmytro Suiarko, a Ukrainian biathlete who won a Paralympics bronze medal on Tuesday, had his house “bombed and destroyed” by Russian forces. The Olympian won in the middle distance vision impaired category.

Suiarko said that despite feeling happy about his medal, the crisis in Ukraine is on his mind, he said that his home was bombed.

Also Read: Paralympics 2022: China censors peace calls in Russia-Ukraine conflict

Suiarko said that while he was happy about winning a medal at the Beijing Paralympics, the ongoing invasion of his home country has been on his mind. “I am happy, but you know the situation in Ukraine”, he said in a statement after winning the bronze medal, according to reports from CNN.

“Very hard concentration is needed in biathlon and I missed twice because yesterday my house where I live, it was bombed and destroyed”, Suiarko added.

Ukrainian athletes were the star of the show at the biathlete event at the Paralympics and managed a clean sweep of the podium. Vitaliy Lukyanenko and Anatoliy Kovalevskyi — both Ukrainian athletes — won a gold and silver medal respectively.

Suiarko dedicated his bronze medal at the Paralympics to the women in Ukraine as the event was held on International Women’s Day, according to reports from CNN.

Also Read: Paralympics 2022: Ukrainian athletes dedicate their medals to their country for peace

Anastasiia Laletina, another Ukrainian athlete retracted herself from a race at the Beijing Paralympics on Tuesday after learning that her father had been taken captive by Russian forces. She was scheduled to be a part of the middle-distance seated para biathlon event.

Valerii Sushkevych, the President of Ukraine’s Paralympic squad, compared the situation in Beijing to the one back home. Sushkevych said, “Our soldiers have battles in Ukraine. We, the Paralympic team, have our battles in Beijing. If we did not come here, it would be like losing position, like capitulation.”