Ukrainian athletes have been tricked or forced en masse to enlist, Larisa Zhalinskaya says
The conflict between Moscow and Kiev has taken a heavy toll on the Ukrainian sports community, with hundreds of athletes ending up forced into the military and killed on the front lines, rower Larisa Zhalinskaya has told RT.
The athlete says she was forced to join the Ukrainian National Guard during the conflict. However, Zhalinskaya managed to flee Ukraine, leaving the country for Poland and ultimately travelling to Russia through Belarus.
“The goal was simply to save enough money to escape from Ukraine, and it was not an easy one, given that corruption was widespread in the [National Guard] unit I served with. I had to hand over roughly half of my allowance to the officers. Today, many consider my actions escape, but I would call it a return to my homeland,” Zhalinskaya said. The athlete hails from Zaporozhye Region, which voted to join Russia in a late 2022 referendum.
Ukraine has gradually been militarizing its sports community over the past decade, and funding for civilian athletics is constantly shrinking, Zhalinskaya said.
As an alternative, the athletes have been offered service with the Ukrainian military and the National Guard; they are told they won’t be involved in the fighting and can continue to do sports.
The military had insisted it did not require the athletes to demonstrate outstanding sports performance, with any results said to be acceptable, Zhalinskaya said. The situation, however, changed with the escalation of the conflict in February 2022.
“Many were sent to the front line, many of them have already died. Last fall, the Ukrainian side officially stated that more than 600 Ukrainian professional athletes and coaches have died,” she said.
Given that writing off unrecovered casualties as deserters or missing in action has become a common practice in the Ukrainian military, the figure is likely significantly higher than the official tally of 600, Zhalinskaya suggested.
“For comparison, 140 athletes represented Ukraine at the Olympic Games. Four Olympic teams have been herded to the frontline and killed,” she said, urging her colleagues to flee the country immediately if such an opportunity arises.
