"Complete lie and nonsense said in order to justify Russia's invasion" - Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska hits back at Anastasia Gasanova over scathing remarks about her country

Ukrainian player Dayana Yastremska has hit back at Russian player Anastasia Gasanova for her comments about Ukraine, refuting Gasanova's claims as "a complete lie and nonsense." Earlier, Gasanova took to social media to severely criticize Ukraine and give an account of her bad experiences while living in the country.

Through a series of stories on Instagram, Gasanova recalled how she was forced to leave Ukraine as a young tennis player due to her Russian nationality. She accused the Ukrainian armed forces of killing people just because they spoke the Russian language. Gasanova further stated that people were killed in Ukraine just for wearing Russian national team clothing.

Yastremska has now hit back at the Russian player's claims. She reportedly confronted Gasanova in the locker room during last week's WTA event in Cluj-Napoca, where Gasanova told her that she stood by her comments about Ukraine. Yastremska dismissed Gasanova's claims about innocent killings in Odesa, Ukraine.

"In her posts Gasanova repeated, supported with her words, one of the justifications to start the invasion," Dayana Yastremska said, according to 'Ukrainian Tennis' on Twitter. "She said that she could have been shot in Odesa for speaking Russian. This is a complete lie. Odesa is my hometown. I live all my life in Odesa."

"The vast majority here speak Russian and nobody ever had problems with that. This is a complete lie and nonsense said in order to justify Russia's invasion," Yastremska added.

The 22-year-old further stated that she was left speechless after first hearing Gasanova's claims and after their interaction in the locker room in Romania.

"My impressions...well, I simply have no words. This is not normal. I showed her that video and asked, 'Is this what you think for real?' She said yes that this is her position," Yastremska said.

When Yastremska confronted Gasanova regarding her comments, the Russian player told her that she decided to speak up after seeing Ukrainians 'laugh' about the attack on the Crimean Bridge, in which a few people lost their lives. Yastremska shot back at Gasanova and explained to her the reason behind the happiness of the Ukrainians after the demolition of the bridge.

"I told her that people were only happy because that illegal bridge, which is used for supplying (Russian Army) with tanks and missiles to kill us, is damaged. I asked if she felt sorry for our children who died in Mariupol, Bucha, Kharkiv...I said that she can follow the direction of the Russian warship," Yastremska stated.

"She should be banned after such words" - Dayana Yastremska on Anastasia Gasanova

2022 Adelaide International 1: Day 1

Dayana Yastremska has now been drawn to face Anastasia Gasanova in the opening round of the doubles event of this week's WTA 125k event in Rouen, France. Dayana and her sister Ivanna Yastremska will face Gasanova and fellow Russian Anastasiya Komardina on Tuesday.

Dayana Yastremska said that she would like to show the tournament director a video of Gasanova's derogatory comments about Ukraine, before adding that she should be banned from the tour.

"We found out that we were playing against the Russian duo. Now I want to go to the tournament director and show that video of Gasanova's statements. In my opinion, she should generally be banned after such words, because she repeats the same justification of the invasion," Dayana Yastremska expressed.

Yastremska and Gasanova are also both part of the singles draw and are part of the same quarter of the draw. They could face each other in the quarterfinals if they win their first two matches respectively.