Ukraine under attack: Here's how Ukrainian sports stars joining fight against Russia

Tennis star Elina Svitolina thrashed Russian Anastasia Potapova in Mexico on Tuesday (March 1) and said it was her mission to unite the tennis world behind her country following Russia's invasion.

However, Svitolina had made her feelings known by threatening to boycott the game. But she played and won the game. She was wearing a yellow top and blue skirt, the colours of the Ukrainian flag. 

Svitolina said she would donate her prize money from the tournament to the Ukrainian army. 

Klitschko. a former professional boxer, retired from the sport in 2013 and went on to become the mayor of Kyiv in 2014

Reigning world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk's thoughts at the beginning of the year were of defending his title in a rematch with Britain's Anthony Joshua - instead he is now back in Ukraine to defend his family.

Usyk, who returned to the country as soon as the invasion began, said he was "defending my home, my wife, my children, my close ones" in an interview with CNN from the basement of his home in the Kyiv area.

"I don't want to shoot, I don't want to kill," he said, while adding that if he came under attack he would have "no choice" but to respond in kind.

Former world lightweight champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist Vasiliy Lomachenko has also returned home to help defend the town of Belgorod-Dnestrovsky near the city of Odessa.

The 34-year-old posted a picture of himself in a military uniform with a rifle slung across his shoulder on his Facebook page.

Retired Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, 36, hopes he doesn't have to open fire while serving with Kyiv's volunteer defenders.

"I know how to use the gun. If I'll have to, I'll have to. I pretty much hope that I won't have to use the gun," the former world number 31, who famously beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2013, told the BBC.

Ukrainian footballers led by English Premier League stars Oleksandr Zinchenko and Andriy Yarmolenko have also sought to rally opposition to the war. 

"We ask all (the) world football community to oppose Russian propaganda, to show and tell the truth about war in Ukraine," said the Manchester City midfielder and West Ham winger in a video with 11 other top players. 

The Ukrainian Football Association said an appeal by players had raised $556,649 for the army. 

Russia has been barred from international football by FIFA and UEFA over the invasion, including the 2022 World Cup.

Dmytro Pidruchnyi, who is a Ukrainian biathlete, is also preparing for combat. 

In photos posted on social media, he says he has joined the national guard in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. 

Sadly, a young Ukrainian biathlete has already been killed while serving in the military, the International Biathlon Union said. Yevhen Malyshev, 19, was a member of the national youth team from 2018 to 2020.