'I hope you die': Ukrainian sports stars are speaking out after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion

• Oleksandr Zinchenko is one of many Ukrainian athletes to speak out after Russia invaded Ukraine.
• The Manchester City defender said in a post about Vladimir Putin: "I hope you die."

Manchester City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko is among a long list of Ukrainian athletes who have spoken out amid a Russian military assault on the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the attack in a pre-dawn television address Thursday, insisting that Russian forces would strive for the "demilitarization" and "de-Nazification" of Ukraine, whose president is Jewish.

Attacks have since been reported on Ukrainian military targets, including in the cities of Kharkiv, Kyiv, and the port of Odessa.

Zinchenko, who was born in Radomyshl, a town around 60 miles from Kyiv, and has made 48 appearances for Ukraine's men's national soccer team, reacted angrily to the news of the invasion on Instagram.

In a since-deleted story, the soccer player posted a photo of Putin with the caption: "I hope you die the most painful suffering death, creature."

Prior to the invasion, on Tuesday Zinchenko said in an Instagram post: "My country belongs to Ukrainians and no one will ever be able to appropriate it.

"We will not give up! Glory to Ukraine."

Zinchenko's sentiments have been shared by a number of other Ukrainian soccer players, including the country's greatest-ever player Andriy Shevchenko, and the Dynamo Kyiv midfielder Viktor Tsyhankov.

Shevchenko, who was the national team manager for five years, said on Twitter: "Ukraine is my motherland! I have always been proud of my people and my country!

"We have gone through many difficult times, and over the past 30 years we have formed as a nation! A nation of sincere, hard-working and freedom-loving citizens! This is our most important asset!"

Tsyhankov wrote on Instagram that he "can't believe this is happening" but that his "love for Ukraine is stronger than ever."

"This is our home and no one will take it away from us," he said. "Glory to our heroes who defend our borders. Glory to Ukraine!"

It isn't just soccer players speaking out.

Vladyslav Heraskevych, the Olympic skeleton athlete who flashed a "No War in Ukraine" sign while competing at the Beijing Winter Olympics, has also shared his support for his country.

"We will stand with our country to the end!" he wrote on Instagram. "Today, the whole of Ukraine woke up from the explosions. Russia has started a full-scale war against our country. Every Russian is responsible for this and must be held accountable.

"The world can and has to stop Putin. Right now is the time to act."

Russia's conflict with Ukraine has been rumbling for years but escalated dramatically in recent weeks.

Russia assembled vast numbers of troops around Ukraine — as many as 190,000, per US estimates — in the largest military operation in the region since World War II.

On Monday, Putin recognized the claims to independence of the breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk areas of Ukraine, ordering troops there for what he described as a limited peace-keeping operation in the east of the country.

Less than 72 hours later, Putin authorized a full-scale attack on Ukraine. In the hours that followed, explosions pounded cities around Ukraine, many hundreds of miles from the previous conflict zone.

Ukrainian officials reported fighting on its borders with Russia, and dozens of casualties.

The new wave of hostilities expanded the clash from a limited incursion over disputed land into the most serious armed conflict in Europe for at least a decade.

Insider's live blog of the invasion is covering developments as they happen.