Many athletes have been able to train outside of Ukraine following the Russian invasion, and they have been encouraged to continue competing by officials including Sergey Bubka, the National Olympic Committee President.

Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Daria Bilodid headlines the team.

The 21-year-old, who has been training in Valencia, is a former European champion and won a silver medal at last year's edition of the event in Lisbon.

Bulgarian capital Sofia is the venue for the 2022 competition.

Two-time world champion Bilodid will be unseeded, however, as she has moved up from under-48 kilograms to the under-57kg category.

Bilodid has not been in competitive action since the Olympic Games last year.

Anastasia Antipina at under-63kg, under-70kg judoka Natalia Chistyakova and Yulia Kurchenko, plus under-78kg athletes Anastasia Turchyn and Elizaveta Litvinenko complete the women's half of the team.

The men's is led by Artem Lesyuk, an under-60kg gold medallist at the recent Tel Aviv Grand Slam.

Dilshot Khalmatov joins Lesyuk in that division.

Bohdan Yadov and Yevhen Honcharko are set to go at under-66kg, Alexander Koshlyak at under-73kg, Serhiy Kryvchach at Gevorg Manukyan under-81kg, Artem Bubyr at under-90kg and Yakov Hammo in the heavyweight category.

More than 2,435 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia, assisted by Belarus, launched a military assault on February 24, according to the United Nations.

The true figure is believed to be considerably higher.

Russian and Belarusian athletes have largely been banned from international sport in response, but in judo they are permitted to compete under an International Judo Federation flag.

Athletes from the two nations have largely withdrawn from international competition since the invasion began, however, and are not due to compete in Sofia.

The European Judo Union's Russian President Sergey Soloveychik resigned in response to the war in Ukraine, while Italian official Ezio Gamba - who has been coordinator and coach of the Russian men’s national team since 2009 - stepped down as secretary general.