Serhii Karaivan, who completed in the Invictus Games and Warrior Games for Team Ukraine, died on March 13th.
The news was posted on their website and on Twitter, where they wrote: “It is with regret that the Invictus Games Foundation can report that a member of the Ukrainian Invictus Games community has been confirmed as a fatality of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
On their site they wrote: “We know that many of the Invictus Games competitors, alongside the staff and team management, signed up to serve once again, many of whom already had injuries sustained in conflict with Russia since 2014.”
Prince Harry, who served in the British military for 10 years, set up the Invictus Games to support and inspire injured service people. The next games, which were originally scheduled for 2020 but were postponed due to the pandemic, will take place in April 2022 in The Hague.
Oksana Horbach, team manager for the Ukrainian Invictus Games team said in a statement that it was “tough to learn about Serhii’s death as the fighting continues. When we win, we will celebrate his life, talk about him, and his sense of humour, professionalism, patriotism and sports endeavours. And we will hug and cry and laugh because the memories of him bring joy and happiness. Please do not think of him as a martyr, he would not like it. Think of him as a celebrated Invictus Games community member, hero and defender of Ukrainian people.” ~Alexandra Heilbron