"He was killed for using the same words that I used": Kostyuk recalls horrifying war incident after Austin title win

Marta Kostyuk revealed a situation that left her upset for days after she heard about and it's to do with the war in her home country of Ukraine.

Kostyuk recently played for Ukraine in the Billie Jean King Cup and she spoke to the media plenty during that stay in Turkey. In one of the interviews, the Ukranian revealed something that left her sick for days after she heard about it. It came shortly after she won her maiden trophy in Austin over a month ago.

She faced Russian Gracheva in the final with the players having separate ceremonies due to the tension. Following her victory speech, Kostyuk said 'Glory to Ukraine' which were the last words of a Ukranian soldier whose execution video went viral on social media weeks ago. The soldier in question spoke the words into the camera proudly after which he was executed.

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The video shook Kostyuk to the core:

"A series of shocking events just float past me. But there's one that's completely overwhelmed and paralyzed me. It made me sick for three days. When I won the trophy in Austin, I said in my thank-you speech, "Glory to Ukraine!" And then I saw a video of our soldier digging his own grave and saying the same salute. Whereupon he is executed. He was killed for using the same words that I used."

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