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Ukrainian professional tennis player Elina Svitolina recently visited her home country for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and shared the images on social media.
Svitolina visited the city of Irpin, which bore the brunt of Russian hostilities in March 2022. Irpin was declared to be one of the Hero Cities of Ukraine on March 25, 2022 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The former World No. 3 turned to social media to reflect on the city's heartbreaking condition. She posted a few photos from Irpin and added a broken heart emoji as the caption. Broken glass windows and bullet holes are clearly visible in the pictures posted by the 28-year-old.
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Svitolina is an Under24 ambassador, an initiative started by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for the benefit of the war victims and to collect charitable donations for Ukraine. The organisation's social media profile posted a photo of the tennis player and welcomed her to the country for her first visit since the "full-scale" invasion.
"This was very, very sad for me to hear" - Elina Svitolina on people asking her if the war was "still going on" in Ukraine
Last month, Elina Svitolina spoke about how disheartening it was to hear people in Europe asking her if the war in Ukraine was still going on.
The former US Open finalist revealed in an interview with the New York Times that a lot of times people would come up to her to ask about the current status of the war in a manner that made her feel really uncomfortable.
"Here in Europe, a couple of times people came up to me and asked if there is still war going on in Ukraine,” Elina Svitolina said. “This was very, very sad for me to hear. I have close friends and family back in Ukraine, and I know what they are going through.”
Elina Svitolina has been vocal about the Russian invasion of Ukraine since the beginning. She recently advocated for a ban on all Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Olympic Games.
