Though the old adage may advise against bringing a knife to a fistfight, no one said anything about not bringing a grenade to a wrestling match.
A handful of wrestlers in Ukraine learned this tough lesson last month after their sporting event was rudely interrupted by a grenade that detonated in the midst of a heated match.
In a now-viral clip of the incident, which reportedly took place in Russian-occupied Melitopol on February 17, a pair of wrestlers can be seen quickly shifting from fighting each other to fighting for their lives, sprinting towards the gymnasium’s exits alongside a bleacher’s worth of fans as smoke filled the arena.
While it was initially unclear what, exactly prompted the blast, several Telegram messages purportedly penned by the Head of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration, Ivan Fedorov, claim the incident stemmed from the Russian military flexing their “man-portable anti-tank grenade launcher” to locals, per Yahoo News.
"Residents have reported that a robust explosion occurred today [17 February] during a sports competition in Melitopol's Sports Facility No.3, which was soon followed by the urgent evacuation of children from the building,” read a message from the official, the outlet quoted the message as saying. “Ambulance cars and police arrived at the scene. The building was, of course, cordoned off, and the window panels were blown out."
Several people were reportedly injured in the ordeal. Their status is unknown.
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