Several of Ukraine’s top athletes have paid tribute to a Ukrainian soldier believed to have been executed by Russian forces, repeating the Ukrainian battle cry “Glory to Heroes” (Glory to Heroes) — the soldier’s last words, CNN reports.

Among the athletes are tennis star Elina Svitolina and major league football players Oleksandr Zinchenko and Mykhailo Mudryk.

The video of the athletes is a response to the appeal of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, in which he called on people to “unitely respond to his (military) words: ‘Glory to the hero’.” Glory to heroes. Glory to Ukraine”.

Ex-world heavyweight boxing champion and Olympic gold medalist Oleksandr Usyk separately published a video in his Telegram where he reads a poem in honor of a warrior.

“Glory to Ukraine,” says the poem. “You got a bullet for what you said. And you left… But eternal memory, warrior, to you. You defeated the enemies of the Motherland, showed the strength and power of the Armed Forces. Yes, glory to the heroes, and to you in heaven,” Usyk said.

The US State Department is aware of a “horrifying video” of the execution of an unarmed Ukrainian soldier believed to be held captive in Russia, spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday, according to CNN.

“The unfortunate images of this unarmed Ukrainian being executed for simply saying “Glory to Ukraine” are shocking in their barbarism,” Price said during a State Department briefing.

“We believe that Russia should be ashamed of itself,” he continued. “It ignores the basic rules of war, basic humanity, basic decency … when its forces engage in such atrocities.”

Price added that this is not the first evidence of Russian atrocities in Ukraine. “Unfortunately, this is probably not the last count that our Ukrainian partners take on potential crimes related to war crimes, tens of thousands of cases have been registered so far,” he said.

The Ukrainian military has announced that it has identified its brave soldier whose last words before being executed by the Russians were “Glory to Ukraine”, as the POW’s killing was captured on video and shared on social media.

The name of the deceased was Tymofiy Mykolayovych Sadura, a soldier of the 30th mechanized brigade, who participated in the battles near the city of Bakhmut in the east of the country and was considered missing since February 3, the Ukrainian army reports. said

“The shooting of an unarmed prisoner is a cynical and blatant disregard for international humanitarian law and the laws of war. This is what vile criminals do, not combatants. The Russian invaders once again demonstrated that their main goal in Ukraine is only the brutal extermination of Ukrainians,” the source said.

The horrifying video shows an unarmed soldier dressed in a Ukrainian military uniform smoking a cigarette near an alleged combat position.

The man is then shown taking a cigarette out of his mouth, blowing smoke, and can be heard saying “Glory to Ukraine” before being shot several times by soldiers who do not appear in the frame.