Three of its national team coaches are now "defending our country with weapons in their hands", according to Viktor Slobodianiuk, a senior coach and Executive Board member of the Ukraine Weightlifting Federation (UWF).

Many coaches and athletes from non-elite level have also joined the army.

The UWF can use only one of its five national training centres, one of which was destroyed by Russian shelling, and with the country at war it does not know how long its funding will last.

The national men’s team has been evacuated to Romania and will not return to Ukraine for the foreseeable future.

But despite all this, Ukraine will send teams to the two big events on the weightlifting calendar next month, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Junior World Championships in Crete, and the European Championships in Albania.

The "fighting spirit" of the teams, and support from the weightlifting community around Europe and beyond are giving Ukrainian weightlifting a boost in desperate times, said Slobodianiuk, who works for the Sports Ministry.

"We were really surprised by the level of support from the weightlifting community and we are very grateful to everyone who has supported us," he said.

The worst news came last week when two national-level weightlifters were killed.

"A few days ago, while defending the city of Mariupol, our heavyweight weightlifter Atanas Ivanov died, and Sergey Karaivan also died," said Slobodianiuk.

"Masters of sports in weightlifting Nikolai Novikov and Vadim Zednik were seriously injured.

"But we get very little information about those who are directly on the front line or in occupied cities, since mobile communications and the internet are often absent there.

"We really hope that we will not receive any more bad news."

The top athletes are asked to continue with their work rather than join the army.

"The Government of Ukraine encourages the training of elite athletes and asks, if possible, to represent our country in international competitions," Slobodianiuk said.

"Elite athletes who were preparing for the World Junior Championships and the European Championships continue their training and none of them went into the army.

"It's really hard for athletes to focus on training, but they understand that it's important now to do what you can.

"Their task now is to adequately represent Ukraine at international competitions, and athletes are trying to take it responsibly.

"The fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people is at a very high level, but of course the success of our athletes also gives strength to the people, and shows our fortitude to our friends and partners from other countries.

"Ever since the first days of the war, we have felt great support from the weightlifting community from all over Europe and the world."

The most significant support has come from the Romanian Weightlifting Federation, which welcomed Ukraine’s men’s team to Bucharest today.

The women’s team remain at the Koncha-Zaspa Olympic Centre in Kyiv, the only national training centre still in use by Ukraine’s elite weightlifters.

"We really wanted to take our women's national team abroad too, but head coach Yuriy Kuchinov decided to stay in Ukraine with the team," said Slobodianiuk.

"He is responsible for the life and health of athletes, and we cannot influence him.

"The air raid alert sounds an average of four to five times a day - this is when you need to go down to the bomb shelter.

"Yesterday it became known that Russian troops left the territory of the Kyiv region, but there is no guarantee that they will not return and missile attacks on Kyiv and other cities continue as before."

An attack completely destroyed the training centre in Chernihiv, while the sports boarding school in Kharkiv was damaged by bombing, and it is considered too dangerous to use the training centre in Kamyanets-Podilskyi, a region that comes under heavy fire.

A fifth training centre has been taken over by Ukraine’s elite volleyball squad.

"The junior women's team constantly trained at the sports base in Kharkiv," said Slobodianiuk.

"When the war began, they could not evacuate for several days due to shelling by the Russians, but they managed to leave by train and now they are in the Zakarpattia region, in a small town near the border with Slovakia.

"This city has a weightlifting hall, and athletes and coaches live in the homes of local residents.

"The men's team was in Chernihiv when the war began.

"With great difficulty, we managed to evacuate athletes and coaches, and two days after the evacuation, the sports centre in Chernihiv was completely destroyed by the Russians.

"In Kamyanets-Podilskyi, the sports base is very close to critical infrastructure facilities, and the Russians very often launch powerful long-range missiles at such facilities. That's why it's dangerous there."

As for funding, Slobodianiuk said: "There are very big problems.

"The Ministry of Sports no longer finances training camps.

“The National Olympic Committee allocates some financial assistance to the Koncha-Zaspa Olympic base, where, in addition to our weightlifters, there are many refugees from the destroyed cities.

"The women's team in the Zakarpattia region receives a small amount of support.

"The longer the war goes on, the more difficult the funding situation becomes.

"There is no exact information about the financing of participation in international competitions, but most likely there will be great difficulties with this.

"We are very grateful to the Romanian Weightlifting Federation and personally to its general secretary Alex Padure, who organised everything and keeps in touch with us all the time.

"Also many thanks to the President of the European Weightlifting Federation (EWF), Antonio Conflitti, for his help."

Conflitti said that France, Germany and other nations had offered to help Ukraine in any way they can.

"Almost all EWF vice-presidents and members of the Executive Board and committees got in touch with us, provided moral support, offered help, helped to accommodate refugees from Ukraine," said Slobodianiuk.

"We are really very grateful to everyone.

"The IWF a few days ago informed us of its decision to pay for the participation of eight athletes and two coaches in the World Junior Championships.

"This is also a big help for Ukrainian weightlifting - we are very grateful."

Slobodianiuk’s only complaint was that the IWF had not replied to the UWF’s query about the status of Maxim Agapitov, President of the Russian Weightlifting Federation and a Board member of both the IWF and the EWF.

While athletes and coaches from Russia and Belarus are banned from international competition, Agapitov is free to attend as a Board member.

"We did not receive a single comment on this matter from the IWF, even after Maxim openly supported the war in Ukraine by posting on social networks," said Slobodianiuk.

"It is difficult to say what exactly I will feel if I meet Agapitov at a competition.

"There are a lot of feelings and they are all negative.

"Russian people showed their real face, without masks, and Maxim is no exception.

"If we meet, I will pass by and definitely will not shake his hand to greet him.

"In general, we feel great support from the whole world and this gives us strength to fight further against the evil that has come to our country.

"Most of all, we want the war to end and we return to normal life.

"But we all need to realise that the world has changed a lot and will never be the same again."