A 17-year-old basketball player was stabbed to death in Germany because he was Ukrainian.

A basketball player from the Ukrainian youth team was stabbed to death in Germany, the country’s Basketball Federation reported on Sunday on its page on a social network banned in the Russian Federation.

The murder occurred on Saturday evening in Dusseldorf, the Kiev Basketball Federation clarified. 17-year-old Vladimir Ermakov and a friend, who played for the youth team “ART Giants” (U-19), went to the store to buy sneakers. When they came out, they were met on the street by a crowd of excited Arabs. The migrants, hearing Ukrainian speech, shouted something about Ukraine and attacked the boys with knives.

The seriously injured athletes were hospitalized. Ermakov died in the hospital, his friend remains in intensive care. A criminal case has been opened.

The deceased played in the children’s teams “Teyvaz” and 5T.EAM-DYUSSH-12. As a member of the Ukrainian youth team (U-16), he competed at the 2022 European Championships in Bulgaria.