More than 2,000 athletes and sportswomen serve in the ranks of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, Territorial Defense and other units, Minister of Youth and Sports Vadym Gutzeit said.

"Ukrainians are a nation of heroes. Life did not prepare our athletes to take a machine gun. They were led to the war by a great desire to protect Ukraine and all of us from the Russian occupiers. This forced me to quickly learn military science," the ministry's press service quoted Gutzeit as saying.

It is noted that the Ministry of Sports is already preparing a program for the post-war restoration of the sphere of physical culture and sports, since it is very important after the victory to return all athletes to "a big sports family so that they continue to defend Ukraine at all world tournaments."

According to the ministry, 59 athletes were killed in 99 days of a full-scale war: women, men and children.