WIMBLEDON, England — Lesia Tsurenko’s Wimbledon campaign ended Friday during a match in which her head was somewhere else. Tsurenko, a 33-year-old tennis veteran from Kyiv, had been watching the news from home all week and saw that the Russians had bombed a shopping mall and other civilian targets. “They’re just trying to kill as many people as possible,” Tsurenko said of the Russian military. Since February, she had gotten better at keeping thoughts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine out of her mind when she was on the tennis court, but Friday was a bad day. She said she felt off balance from the moment she woke up, “like there was no ground under my feet.” And as soon as she took the court against Germany’s Jule Neimeier, she said she had “no idea how to play tennis”. Juggling the constant travel and physical and mental defenses of professional tennis is difficult even for the best players. For Ukrainian players these days, who haven’t been home in months and spend much of their free time updating their friends and family back home on the health and safety, the challenge is monumental. The good news for Tsurenko is that she appears to have found a semi-permanent home in northern Italy, at an academy run by renowned coach Riccardo Piatti. He has an apartment. Her sister, Oksana, recently joined her. So did her husband, Nikita Vlasov, a former army officer who is ready to return as soon as he gets the call, but for now the forces do not need someone of his caliber. “We don’t have any problems with people,” Tsurenko said shortly after her defeat. “The problem is the heavy weapons.” Churenko fled Ukraine before the war started, so she is not technically a refugee. Recently, she had to miss a tournament to be able to stay in Italy and file paperwork to be allowed to stay there. Awaiting approval. Also, her mother, who lives near Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, does not want to leave, despite heavy shelling. Her sister’s husband’s mother also lives there. Her time playing tennis in England last month gave her a break. Russian and Belarusian players were banned from competing at Wimbledon. Knowing how popular President Vladimir V. Putin remains in Russia, Churenko has speculated that some of the Russian and Belarusian players likely support him. It was better, she said, not to hit them in the locker room, although she will soon when the WTA Tour moves out of Britain and they return to competition. There have been many matches since the war began on February 24, when Tsurenko wondered what she was even doing playing tennis. One particular match in Marbella, Spain stands out. That morning he had seen a photo of an administration building in Mykolaiv with a huge hole from a rocket attack. She couldn’t get the image out of her head. Lately, however, it has found clarity. She has always played tennis because she loves the game. The riches offered by the sport never motivated her. Now they do. “I’m playing for the money now,” he said. “I want to win so much so I can donate it,” he said, “I feel like that might be a bad quality because it’s not about tennis, but that’s what I play.” Entering the tournament, Tsurenko, who has four career WTA titles and has earned more than $5 million, had earned $214,000 so far this year. Making the third round at Wimbledon earned her an additional $96,000. For the 101st ranked player in the world, that’s a solid month’s work. He hopes there will be more this summer.
title: “Latest Russia Ukraine War News Live Updates " ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-26” author: “Will Messenger”
While Luhansk Governor Serhii Haidai said Monday that Ukrainian forces still control a “small part” of Luhansk, The loss of Lysychansk means that Moscow has effectively taken over the entire region and can move its attractions to neighboring Donetsk. Heidai told Reuters he expects Russia to target Sloviansk and Bakhmut in particular as the Kremlin seeks to take control of the wider Donbas region, which includes both Luhansk and Donetsk, in the final phase of its invasion. Fighting in the east is likely to remain “fierce and attritional”, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday. As Kyiv tries to hold ground, senior Ukrainian officials will gather with European leaders in Switzerland for the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which begins on Monday. Zelensky and his wife, Olena Zelenska, are set to speak separately at the conference virtually. Here’s what else you need to know
Britain is set to unveil a major aid package — including an extra $525 million in World Bank loan guarantees — at the Ukraine Recovery Conference. Pope Francis suggested in an interview Monday that he might visit Ukraine and Russia to advocate for an end to the war. Russia bombed several cities in the Donetsk region. In Sloviansk, six people were killed and 20 injured, officials said. Turkish authorities have seized a Russian-flagged cargo ship loaded with stolen Ukrainian grain, Ukraine’s ambassador to Ankara said.
