Ukrainian ballet star Artem Datsyshyn dies after Russian shelling

Barricades built around Kyiv's opera houseReuters

Barricades have been built around the home of the National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv

Leading Ukrainian ballet dancer Artem Datsyshyn has died, almost three weeks after being injured in Russian shelling in Kyiv, according to reports.

Datsyshyn, 43, a former soloist at the National Opera of Ukraine, died in hospital, friend Tatiana Borovik said.

She spoke of her "heartache" at the news in a Facebook post.

Anatoly Solovyanenko, chief stage director at the National Opera of Ukraine, paid tribute to him as "a great artist" and "a wonderful man".

Russian-American choreographer Alexei Ratmansky also expressed his sadness.

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Ratmansky, a former principal dancer in Kyiv and former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, is now artist in residence at the American Ballet Theatre in New York. He said Datsyshyn died from "wounds received on February 26 when he got under Russian artillery fire".

"He was a beautiful dancer loved by his colleagues. Unbearable pain," he added.

News of Datsyshyn's death follows reports that Ukrainian actress Oksana Shvets died after a Russian rocket attack.

Shvets, 67, died after the attack on a residential building in Kyiv, according to the city's Young Theatre, of which she was a company member.

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She was reported to be a veteran of stage and screen for decades in Ukraine, and the recipient of one of the country's highest artistic accolades.

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