Calm the waters: Ukrainian Olympic artistic swimmers Vladyslava (left) and Maryna Aleksiiva during a training session in Kyiv on April 6, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. — AFP
KHARKIV (Ukraine): Air raid sirens wailed as artistic swimmers Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva rested on their only free day from a rigorous training programme in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
The sisters are stars of Ukraine’s Olympic-medal-winning team, which returned to the city to train for next summer’s Paris Olympics, despite proximity to the front and regular bouts of shelling.
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