Ukrainian ballet star succumbs to injuries from Russian shelling, aged 43

Ukrainian ballet star Artyom Datsishin has died three weeks after he sustained injuries from Russian shellings in Kyiv. He was 43.

Datsishin’s death was announced by his friend Tatiana Borokiv, who shared her grief in a post on Facebook.

“May your memory be bright,” she wrote.

The internationally renowned dancer was a former soloist at the National Opera of Ukraine, where he performed the lead in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty.

His death has sparked anger in the arts world. According to the Evening Standard, Russian-American choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is “furious” over the loss and described his “unbearable pain”.

Anatoly Solovyanenko, chief stage director at the National Opera of Ukraine, called Datsishin “a beautiful artist” and “a wonderful man” in a Facebook post.

Datsishin’s death follows that of Ukrainian actor, Oksana Shvets, who died aged 67 in a Russian rocket attack.

Read updates on the Russia-Ukraine conflict here.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.