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Ukrainian Top Man Ruled Out of World Cup

Ukraine`s aspirations for the upcoming FIFA World Cup suffered a significant blow when Serhiy Fedorov was ruled out of the tournament. The FC Dynamo Kyiv defender was diagnosed with a hip injury and won?t be able to participate at Germany. He is set to fly to Belgium for additional medical tests this week, as the Ukraine squad touches down in the Turkish town of Belek to continue pre-tournament preparations.

The centre-back has been a crucial presence in qualifying, and the experience of his 12 years in top-flight football was expected to provide a key presence in the Ukraine camp. However, Dynamo coach Anatoliy Demyanenko has confirmed Fedorov will be out for three months with a hip injury, ruling him out of the reckoning for Germany.

Coach Oleh Blokhin has not yet decided whether or not to replace Fedorov but as his party are currently down to 18 players, he may chose to. Andriy Shevchenko is still in Italy recovering from injury, while Dmytro Chigrinskiy, Andriy Pyatov and Artem Milevskiy are on duty with the Ukraine Under-21 side.