Ukrainian professional tennis player Dayana Yastremska reported that her family’s residential apartment in the Black Sea port city of Odesa was destroyed during a Russian aerial attack. The 26-year-old athlete shared images on social media showing a burning multi-story residential building, describing the strike as a direct hit from a Kalibr cruise missile.
In her posts, Yastremska noted the ironic survival of a Roland Garros branded towel amid the destruction of her home, which she characterized as symbolic of the broader conflict affecting Ukrainian civilians and athletes. She directed attention to international tennis governing bodies, including the Women’s Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation, calling on them to consider the impact of the conflict on the sport’s participants.
According to Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional administration, the combined missile and drone assault on Odesa and the nearby city of Chornomorsk on Friday night resulted in 37 people injured, including an infant, and two individuals reported missing. Yastremska, who reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2024 and currently holds a ranking of 113th in the women’s world singles standings, is not the first athlete from Ukraine to experience direct damage to her residence from Russian military operations.
The attack reflects a pattern of Russian strikes affecting Ukrainian athletes’ homes since the beginning of the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. Previously, Ukrainian international football player Heorhiy Sudakov disclosed that his apartment in Kyiv sustained severe damage from a Russian drone strike while his wife and child were present in the residence.
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