Ukrainian tennis player Yastremska says family apartment destroyed in Russian attack on Odesa

On September 12, Ukrainian tennis player Dayana Yastremska announced that her family's apartment in Odesa was destroyed by a Russian missile attack. The only survivor of the devastation was a Roland Garros towel, which Yastremska posted on Instagram amidst the rubble of the residential building. Despite the loss of her home, the 2024 Australian Open semifinalist expressed her gratitude that world tennis had endured a Russian missile strike. The Russian missile targeted the building directly, according to Yastremska.

Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper reported that the attack on Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk on September 12 resulted in 35 injuries, including a baby, and two people were missing. Several explosions were heard in the city overnight on September 13, according to a Kyiv Independent journalist on the scene. Yastremska used her Instagram post on September 12 to urge the Women's Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation to view the images from Ukrainians' perspective.