Late in the evening on January 2, the occupiers launched two rocket attacks on the city of Druzhkovka, Donetsk region. The invaders destroyed the local ice arena “Altair”.
It is this site that has become the home of the Donbass hockey club since 2014.
Powerful appeal of Kuleba to the world sports community
On the basis of the Druzhkovskaya arena, the largest children's and youth sports school in hockey and figure skating worked in Ukraine. The arena hosted Ukrainian championships, international competitions and cultural events.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba invited the President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach and other sports functionaries to the ice arena destroyed by the shelling of the Russian invaders to see the consequences of Russian aggression.
Consequences of the Russian strike / Photo from Instagram
“I invite all sports functionaries who want to allow Russian athletes to participate in international competitions, because “sport is out of politics,” in particular IOC President Thomas Bach, to visit Altair and see for themselves the “sports neutrality” of Russia,” wrote Kuleba.
According to the minister, Russia and Belarus must bear full responsibility for their crimes against peace – and their athletes cannot compete in international competitions as if nothing had happened.
Consequences of the rocket attack on Russia / Instagram photo
“Maybe then, finally, an understanding will come why it is immoral to hide behind abstract “neutrality” in such a situation,” Kuleba added.
What the arena looks like now / Photo from Instagram
Kuleba emphasized that it was not just a sports facility, but one of the key arenas for the development of Ukrainian sports and the largest hockey and figure skating school in Ukraine. “The only blows that took place here were hockey shootouts. Until the blow was struck by” depoliticized “Russian bombs,” the minister added.
What is known about the shelling of Druzhkovka
- One rocket hit the very center of the city, it is known about 2 wounded. Another missile hit Yakovlovka.
- There is also a hit in the technical premises of an industrial enterprise. Damaged warehouse, electromagnetic crane and gatehouse. A hotel complex, a bus station, a church, and a residential building were damaged. The situation in the region remains tense.
