On May 5, 2026, the 20th European Wushu Kungfu Championships will open in Lyon. This day also marks the 11th anniversary of the death of Oleg Shevandin , multiple Ukrainian champion, national team coach, and founder of the Donetsk Region Wushu Kungfu Federation – who was kidnapped on May 1, 2015, by Russian forces. His wife, Larysa, has had no news of him since.

On this occasion, the association For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours! and the Ukrainian movement Return Freedom , led by Larysa Shevandina, wife of Oleg, wrote to the European and French Wushu Kungfu Federations to draw their attention to his situation and ask them to publicly pay tribute to this exceptional sportsman during the European Championships in Lyon.

More broadly, they are asking the two Federations and the international sporting community

– to remind the sporting world that a Wushu Master has been held hostage for 11 years for his loyalty to the values of sport and freedom;

– to join the appeal to obtain information about his detention and to engage in negotiations for his release.

Recipient of the "Famous Masters" award at the 2010 Hong Kong International Wushu Competition, Oleg Shevandin has trained dozens of athletes of European and world caliber. He is also the author of academic publications in sports psychology. His federation, founded in 1996, was one of the most successful in Ukraine.

During Russia's occupation of Donbas, he delivered food and medicine, organized the evacuation of civilians under bombardment, and refused to divulge the personal data of his federation's athletes and coaches despite repeated threats from the occupiers. In December 2014, he successfully led his team to the Ukrainian Championship in Kyiv—where they finished first.

On May 1, 2015, he was taken to a Russian military headquarters, tortured, accused of spying for Ukraine, and then transferred to FSB custody in Donetsk. His family has no information about his whereabouts.

This arbitrary abduction illustrates Russia's strategy of systematic terror inflicted on civilian populations in the occupied territories of Ukraine, a strategy denounced by For Ukraine, For Their Freedom and Ours! and Return Freedom . It particularly targets individuals who embody national values or civic engagement, such as sports champions, but also mayors, association leaders, and others.

The case of Oleg Shevandin is thus part of the national campaign "Together, let's save the Ukrainian hostages" launched jointly by the two associations to raise awareness among French and European public opinion about the tragic fate of these populations and to demand the release of more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians arrested and illegally detained by Russia, often subjected to torture and held incommunicado.

“Oleg is the first of a long list of Ukrainian civilian hostages held by Russia. Every day that passes without information is a day of torture through isolation. Your voice may be his only chance.”

emphasizes Larysa Shevandina, wife of Oleg, and president of Return Freedom .

This campaign is part of the People First call — Humans first , launched by the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winners Oleksandra Matviichuk and Oleg Orlov, and supported in France by For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours !