The Ukrainian diving team commented on the decision of European champion Sofia Lyskun to go to Russia and change citizenship.

Team leader Alexey Sereda, in a comment to Channel 5, noted that he had not noticed such sentiments in the athlete:.

" But, you know, she never promoted any narratives in the national team - she didn’t say that Russia is class. I didn't notice this about her. We just trained, communicated in Russian. There were no signs that she would now turn around and go compete for Russia.

And we all - both the coaching staff and the athletes - were shocked that she did this, that she, one might say, betrayed. How much this country gave her, how much the coaches gave her"

The head coach of the national team, Ilya Tselyutin, admitted that he was shocked by Lyskun’s actions:.

\? Didn't notice anything. We constantly go to competitions, she always competed in uniform. She won medals in May of this year, so we see no reason for such actions. If they had seen it, they could have done something..

We condemn everything she did, everything we saw. We will petition that she be removed from all team lists as soon as possible, removed from the staff and deprived of all ranks - the maximum possible sanctions. This is unacceptable in our country.

I myself am from Rubezhnoye, I took my parents out during the Russian invasion, my city, where my parents and I were born, was completely destroyed. This is unacceptable, and seeing this is a big shock for me,” the Suspilne Sport quotes the coach..

Sofia Lyskun has had a professional career since 2017 and managed to compete under the Ukrainian flag at two Olympics. Also in 2022, she became vice-world champion, and at the European Championships she won 11 medals, including four golds. She won her last victory at the European Championships as part of the Ukrainian national team in mixed competitions in May of this year..

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Earlier, the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine responded to Lyskun’s decision.