Ukrainian international Georgiy Sudakov posted video footage on social media showing severe damage to the apartment where his wife, young child and mother were sheltering after what he said were drone strikes on a residential building in Kyiv.
Sudakov, who is on loan at Portuguese club Benfica from Shakhtar Donetsk, said his wife Yelyzaveta, their three-year-old daughter Milana and his mother were at home at the time of the attack. He did not say in the post whether any of them had been injured.
In a message accompanying the Instagram footage, Sudakov wrote: “This is what my house looks like after tonight. Arrival of the shahed (drones). The wife, child and mother were home at the time. Non-people from a neighbouring country will write that military equipment is kept in my house.” The video shows bricks and rubble in hallways, broken windows, water pooled on the floor and smoke or fire on a roof, and vehicles covered in debris.
Ukraine’s air force said in a statement that Russian forces fired hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles and multiple missiles in strikes this week, and that the attacks had killed four people and injured 44. The statement said 805 drones and 13 missiles had been used in the barrage. The military attribution and casualty figures come from Ukrainian officials.
Sudakov, 23, is currently with the Ukrainian national team. He started for Ukraine in a friendly against France on Friday that was played in Poland and ended in a 2-0 loss for Ukraine. The midfielder has 30 senior caps and three international goals since his debut in 2021.
Sudakov signed for Shakhtar Donetsk as an academy player in 2017 and has won two Ukrainian Premier League titles and two Ukrainian Cups with the club. He moved to Benfica on loan, with the Portuguese side holding an obligation to sign him permanently next summer.
Shakhtar, based in the Donbas region, has been unable to play at its home stadium since the Russian invasion in 2022. Many of the club’s players and staff have been based in Kyiv and elsewhere inside and outside Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict.
The footage and accounts from Sudakov underline the continuing toll on civilians and residential areas in Ukraine as Moscow’s forces continue to target cities across the country. Ukrainian authorities and international monitors have repeatedly documented strikes on civilian infrastructure since the full-scale invasion began in 2022; Russian officials have characterized some such strikes as aimed at military or logistical targets.
Sudakov’s post drew attention to the personal consequences of the wider conflict for public figures and athletes who have family members living inside Ukraine while clubs and competitions continue abroad. He did not provide further updates on his family’s condition in the post.