Efe

Updated Monday, February 12, 2024-09:12

The 17-year-old Ukrainian

basketball

player

Volodímir Yermakov

died in

Düsseldorf

after being

stabbed

this Saturday along with a compatriot who also played in the under-19 team of the ART Giants club in this German city, according to the Kiev Basketball Federation in a statement.

"On the eve of their next game, the young basketball players were attacked with knives in the street simply for being Ukrainian," reads the statement, which explains that the other player attacked, Artem Kozachenko, is in intensive care.

The teammates of the two Ukrainian minors spent the night in the hospital, where doctors were unable to save Yermakov, according to the source.

The federation note explains that the German Police are

investigating the stabbing.

Yermakov was born in 2006 and played with the

Ukraine

U-16 team in the European Basketball Championship held in Bulgaria in 2022.

The Kiev

Basketball Federation

has sent its condolences to his parents and has started a collection to send them financial aid through a Ukrainian bank.