Escaped from Ukraine

Basketball super talent stabbed to death in Düsseldorf!

Volodymyr Yermakov

(Bild: GEPA; Facebook.com/ART Giants Düsseldorf)

The violent death of a basketball super talent in Germany has caused sheer horror: at the age of just 17, Volodymyr Yermakov was apparently killed in an attack in Oberhausen by a knife-wielding attacker aged just 15 (!)! Tragic: the young Ukrainian had only come to Germany last summer after escaping the war in his home country to St. Pölten - in the hope of a life in freedom and safety ...

"When the war broke out, we took in ten Ukrainians, seven of whom have since returned because it was safe with them. Volodymyr then went to Düsseldorf in the summer," the chairman of the St. Pölten basketball team, Stefan Worenz, told the "Krone" newspaper, shocked by the terrible news. Yermakov had come to Austria alone as a 15-year-old, where former St. Pölten player Serguei Orekhov had acted as a kind of mentor for him and the other youngsters in the group.

The police are still investigating the background to the bloody deed, but at present a hate crime, an attack because of Yermakov's Ukrainian origin, cannot be ruled out. In any case, the Kyiv Basketball Association hinted at such a motive in a social media post.

Horrific act of bloodshed
"Also involved in the brutal attack was teammate Artem Kozachenko, who fortunately survived the attack and is currently still in hospital. We wish him a speedy recovery and a speedy recovery," the ART Giants Düsseldorf team wrote on Facebook.

The entire team, which actually had a game on Saturday evening, rushed to the hospital during the night to support Yermakov and Kozachenko. While the latter is now on the road to recovery, the former succumbed to his injuries in hospital despite the intensive efforts of the doctors ...

15-year-old allegedly the perpetrator
According to the "Bild" newspaper, the knifeman is said to be a 15 (!) year old German-Turkish boy who is known as a prolific offender due to several assault and robbery offenses. The boy, who was identified from video footage of the crime scene at Oberhausen central station, was remanded in custody on charges of manslaughter and dangerous bodily harm.