Ukraine athletes defend country, demand sanctions for Russia

By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer

With Russian troops encircling the capital of Kyiv, more than 60 athletes from Ukraine and elsewhere sent an open letter to Olympic and Paralympic leaders urging them to immediately suspend the Russian and Belarussian Olympic and Paralympic Committees. Among them was Ukranian skeleton rider Vladyslav Heraskevych. He made headlines earlier this month in Beijing when he unfurled a banner reading “No War in Ukraine.” The 23-year-old athlete is now hunkered down in Zhytomyr, a city about 150 kilometers (90 miles)  west of Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv. He says things are quiet where he is, but there is no safe spot in Ukraine right now and he’s ready to defend his country if needed.