In…Turkey, the war was transferred to Ukraine, with wild wood in between Russian and Ukrainian football players. Sports cannot unite the two teams, whose countries are at war

Players from Russian side Shinnik Yaroslavl and Ukrainian side FC Minaj shared the same hotel in Antalya after the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria last week.

According to the Ukrainian Twitter account Zorya Londonsk, the fight was sparked when one of Minaj’s players remarked to a Russian player for behaving inappropriately towards a hotel staff member.

The Russian footballer was reportedly “drunk and openly rude” and refused to apologize for his actions, which led to him being … punched by his Ukrainian counterpart. Teammates of the two players were subsequently injured and Russian media claimed that four Shinnik Yaroslavl players likely suffered broken bones.

The Turkish police were called to defuse the situation, while ambulances were also called for the injured.

FC Minaj released an official statement on Tuesday about the incident. They confirmed that there was indeed a fight and made it clear that they felt it was the Russian players’ fault.

“The cause of the fight was the disgraceful behavior of the football players of the Russian team towards the hotel employees and the provocative voices towards Minaj’s players.”

They replied, on “Information from the Russian propaganda media that Minaj’s players forced Shinnik’s players to sing the national anthem of Ukraine and beat her players in the elevator is a ‘traditional delusion’. The fight did take place, but on the floor where the Russians lived and in equal numbers.”

“After the skirmish ended, when Minaj’s players went to their rooms, the Russians continued to fight each other. Those who tried to stop the conflict were accused of supporting Ukraine. The local police had to intervene and calm the Russians down.”

The Ukrainian players quickly put the incident behind them as they headed to training on Tuesday morning.