Ukrainian football players get in brawl with Russians in Turkish hotel, defending insulted staffer

Ukraine’s FC Mynai issued an official statement on the reports of a fistfight that broke down between their players and those of Russia’s FC Shinnik in a Turkish hotel.

The skirmish was a result of an altercation that unfolded following what Mynai call “shameful behavior” of Russian footballers toward a hotel employee, according to the club’s press service, Ukrinform reports.

"Yesterday, February 13, a fight took place at the Royal Sigunas hotel in Turkey involving FC Mynai and representatives of country 404 - Shinnik Yaroslavl. The cause of the clash was the shameful behavior of the Russian team’s football players toward a hotel employee and provocative chants toward the people of Zakarpattia," the post reads.

According to the football club, the claims spread by the Russian propaganda media that the Ukrainians forced Russian players to sing the Ukrainian anthem and assaulted one of their players in an elevator is nothing but “traditional delusion.”

"The fight did take place, but already on the floor where the Russians stayed, and the forces were equal. The number of those affected on the part of Shinnik only confirms the fact that the Russians in fact do ‘leave their people behind.’ Already after the skirmish ended, when the Mynai players were in their rooms, the Russians continued to fight – now among themselves. Those who tried to stop the clash were accused of supporting Ukraine. The local police had to intervene to calm the Russians down," FC Mynai reported.

The team also noted that before the start of the training visit, FC Mynai’s main request to the organizers was to make sure no Russian athletes share the same hotel with the Ukrainian team. The organizers on their part claim that the hotel agreed to accommodate Shinnik. The Zakarpattia-based team appealed to the management of Royal Seginus with a demand to evict the Russians because representatives of the terrorist state have been banned from training and playing football outside their country.

Photo: FC Mynai, Facebook