Russian missile strike destroys tennis player Dayana Yastremska's Odesa home
A Kalibr cruise missile strike on an Odesa apartment building injured at least 35 people and prompted the Ukrainian athlete to condemn WTA neutrality policies.
Strike on Odesa residential building
Russian forces carried out a missile and drone strike on the southern port city of Odesa overnight between 11 and 12 September 2026. A Russian Kalibr cruise missile scored a direct hit on a multi-storey residential building, destroying several apartments located on the upper levels. Ukrainian professional tennis player Dayana Yastremska confirmed on Instagram that her family apartment was completely ruined in the explosion. Yastremska published photographs and video recordings depicting the complex engulfed in flames and dense smoke. Among the wreckage, the only intact item visible on the exposed building facade was a tournament towel from Roland Garros.
A piece of world tennis survived a Russian missile. Our home did not. Look at these pictures through our eyes: this is the true meaning of your neutrality from the Ukrainian perspective.
Casualties and local damage
The overnight bombardment damaged several residential buildings in Odesa, requiring emergency response teams to search through burning debris throughout Saturday. Initial casualty figures reported by Ukrainian media outlets listed 23 injured individuals, including a child under one year of age. By Saturday evening, Odesa Regional Governor Oleh Kiper revised the casualty count upward, announcing that at least 35 people sustained injuries, including a five-month-old infant. In an address reviewing recent bombardments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russian attacks across the country had killed three people in total.
- A Russian Kalibr cruise missile hits a residential building in Odesa, destroying Yastremska's apartment.
- Initial Ukrainian reports indicate 23 people injured in the Odesa bombardment.
- Regional Governor Oleh Kiper updates the casualty count to at least 35 injured, including a five-month-old infant.
Criticism of tennis governing bodies
In her social media post, Yastremska directed her message at the governing bodies of professional tennis, specifically the Women's Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation. The 26-year-old athlete criticized their ongoing policy regarding competitors from Russia and Belarus, who continue to enter tournaments as neutral athletes without national flags or symbols. The WTA and ITF have maintained this policy since the outbreak of the war to separate individual competitors from state actions, while avoiding broader political declarations. Yastremska argued that the surviving Grand Slam towel served as a stark contrast between international sports policies and the direct devastation experienced by Ukrainian civilians.
Context for Ukrainian tennis players
The incident in Odesa follows other recent damage to sporting assets connected to Ukrainian players. During the recent US Open tournament in New York, Ukraine's top-ranked player Elina Svitolina revealed that her padel club in Kyiv suffered severe damage from a Russian attack. Yastremska, who holds three career WTA singles titles, was a junior Wimbledon singles finalist and reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2024. She achieved a career-high ranking of world number 21 on 20 January 2020 and remained inside the top 30 in 2025, a season in which she played two matches against Iga Świątek. In 2026, after multiple first- and second-round exits including an opening-round loss at the US Open, her ranking dropped to 113th.
