Putin took my child from me -FIFPRO announced death of two footballers

Vitalii Sapylo

and

Dmytro Martynenko

have been killed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to FIFPRO, the global footballers’ union.

21-year-old Sapylo was a shot-stopper who played for Karpaty Lviv’s youth team, whereas 25-year-old Martynenko last featured for FC Hostomel.

A statement from FIFPRO on

Twitter

read:

"Our thoughts are with the families, friends, and teammates of young Ukrainian footballers Vitalii Sapylo and Dmytro Martynenko, football’s first reported losses in this war. May they both rest in peace."

Jonas Baer-Hoffman, the FIFPRO general secretary told BBC Radio 5Live:

"We've had confirmation from the ground, which is of course incredibly sad.

"We don't have clear information on how many of our members are really currently involved directly in the conflict, and of course there are still hundreds of Ukrainian players, male and female, in the country.

"Our union on the ground is effectively working out of bunkers and cellars where they are hiding from the attacks, so it's a very difficult situation to analyse.

"These two players have apparently passed away, as part of this military invasion. They're showing how football and sports in general is an afterthought because they're just individuals who unfortunately got caught up in this terrible war."

Sapylo's father Roman told 

BILD

:

"He was such a happy, fun-loving boy. It was an airstrike by that damn Putin. He took my child from me.

"He really wanted to fight. First one tank broke down, then the second, but under no circumstances did he want to leave the front. He asked for a third party. This armour has brought him eternal sleep."

The football world has expressed its support for Ukraine, while Russia underwent a series of sanctions with one of them being getting eliminated from

.

have also been eliminated from Europa League by UEFA.

Follow

for the