In the devasted landscape of Bakhmut, a pentathlete from Ukraine who competed for his nation on the international stage is engaged in combat with Russian soldiers.
Machine gunner Pavlo Zvedeniuk is engaged in grueling warfare with mercenaries from the Wagner Group and Vladimir Putin’s army in the eastern city.
The soldier is one of the country’s top international athletes who has enlisted in the military as the conflict prevents them from competing internationally.
He condemned the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for paving the way to allow Russian and Belarussian athletes to compete at Paris 2024 as neutrals, speaking to Metro.co.uk from the frontline shortly before the body’s executive committee said it had recommended the plan.
At the outbreak of Vladimir Putin’s all-out attack on Ukraine, the 32-year-old helped people including refugees before taking on a combat role with an intelligence unit. He served in the National Guard between 2011 and 2021 but focused primarily on sport as a professional modern pentathlete.
After his service contract ended in December last year he resolved not to join the military again — before the full-scale attack changed everything.
‘It changed most Ukrainians’ goals, dreams and lifestyles in Ukraine and abroad,’ Zvedeniuk said. ‘For me, February 24 changed everything.
‘Those terrible and heroic days, weeks and months are why I joined the army again. The funny thing is that I joined the army voluntarily as a soldier, having had the rank of chief sergeant in the National Guard.
‘Because it’s not about ranks, we fight for our freedom.’
Zvedeniuk has backed a campaign against the IOC’s proposal to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals at Paris 2024.
The move follows an outright ban which was implemented by the body last February. The executive board has made the recommendation to international federations but said athletes who actively support the war, or who are contracted to the military, should not be allowed to participate.
The IOC said yesterday that a decision will be taken on next year’s Olympics and the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games ‘at the appropriate time’.
The move is opposed by 35 countries including the UK — which has said the athletes are ‘funded and supported by their states’.
Zvedeniuk said: ‘Russia, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey were not allowed to attend the 1920 Summer Games in Antwerp because they started the First World War. For the same reasons, Germany and Japan missed the 1948 Olympics in London.
‘In 1964, the IOC isolated the South African national team. The Olympic movement prohibits any form of discrimination so the apartheid policy was incompatible with it. For many decades, athletes from this country were ineligible to compete.
‘And what about Russia and Belarus? The IOC is suddenly very tolerant. ‘Such behaviour is at least strange. It looks like it is whitewashing war crimes and war criminals. The civilian population is dying in Ukraine, including athletes and coaches.’
Pavlo Zvedeniuk serves in war-torn Bakhmut after swapping athletics for frontline
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Zvedeniuk sent Metro.co.uk a video showing him and several comrades dashing through some of the most dangerous ground in the country.
In another clip, he calmly pauses for thought and shakes his head as Russian artillery fire sounds close by in the ruins of Bakhmut.
The combatant sent a message to IOC president Thomas Bach about the brutal reality of life in Russia’s sights.
He claimed that the IOC is effectively turning a ‘blind eye’ to war crimes by allowing the Russian and Belarusians to compete outside their national flags and not barring them for their states’ actions.
‘Russians destroy civil infrastructure, including sports infrastructure, causing millions of dollars in damage,’ Zvedeniuk said.
‘But the IOC turned a blind eye to all the war crimes. Maybe Thomas Bach can’t see well from above, so he is most welcome here, in Ukraine, to live under the sound of explosions, alarms, crying and screaming.
‘He also might be interested in assessing the state of our sports facilities.
‘But first, I highly recommend that the IOC re-read the Olympic Charter.’
The sportsman, from Lviv, has found similarities in the ‘combat readiness’ needed for athletics and his service with the Territorial Defense Forces.
Ukrainian athletes fighting for their homeland
Among the Ukrainian sports stars engaged in the homeland defence is former heavweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who is mayor of Kyiv. His brother, Wladimir, who also once dominated the sport, is a reservist with the nation’s Territorial Defense Brigade.
Mixed martial arts star Yaroslav Amosov broke off from active service to successfully defend his Bellator title in Dublin.
A number of athletes have died after taking up arms.
European boxing champion Maksym Galinichev is understood to have been killed while serving with Ukraine’s 25th Sycheslav Airborne Brigade in the Luhansk region earlier this month.
Footballers have also taken up arms, with Metro.co.uk reporting on 11 players and coaches from one league who have fallen as fighters, civilians and humanitarian volunteers.
They include Alexander Sukhenko, a gifted former professional who stayed in his village near Kyiv to support residents at great personal risk after it was occupied by Russian troops.
‘A sports career, life, habits and skills helped me adapt to war conditions faster,’ he said. ‘Sports taught me to endure, react quickly to stimuli, adapt to changes and solve tasks with a cool head and without emotions.
‘It is the same at the frontline. It will help if you take quick decisions and adapt to conditions that change most unexpectedly.
‘One should always keep a cool head. Emotions and overreacting will not help you to survive, a clear mind and confidence will.
‘At the frontline, as in sports, there are pre-start heebie-jeebies.
‘Another similarity is that you should be in optimal condition.
‘A state of “combat readiness” is required both for an athlete and a soldier.
‘Sport has hardened me psychologically, which has a positive effect on the performance of combat tasks. If you are a professional athlete, it is easier to adapt to the conditions of war, both physically and psychologically.
‘The body is an adaptive machine that gets used to any condition, whether faster or slower, and the brain itself works better in critical situations.’
The IOC has condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion, expressed its solidarity with Ukraine and kept other sanctions in place, including a recommendation that no international sports events be organised in Russia and Belarus.
The fierce debate is taking place as the first British tanks arrive in Ukraine, with the machines expected to soon begin combat missions.
The UK Ministry of Defence reported today that Russian assaults on Bakhmut are at a ‘reduced level’ as fighting continues in the city.
The update on Twitter said a ‘key achievement’ of Ukrainian forces was to push Wagner mercenaries back from a country road in the area which has become a critical supply route for the defenders.