Ex-defender of Dynamo Kyiv Taras Mikhalik talks about football, war, volunteering, the silence of Russians and the period spent at Lokomotiv Moscow.
Taras Michalik. Photo - Facebook“Seleznev always spoke Ukrainian with us”
— Taras, where are you now, what are you doing?
- I came to visit friends in the Kovel region near the Belarusian border.
— What is the situation there?
— Thank God, more or less calm. We are not far from the village where we flew in the other day. We don't really know yet what happened there. It looks like our drone was shot down.
— You take part in charity matches. Tell us how it all started?
- My friend says that I haven't played so much football since the Champions League (laughs - ed.) Recently participated in the Football Legends match against Show Business Stars in Uzhgorod.
Thanks to Zhenya Seleznev for inviting me. There were many fans, we managed to slightly switch people from the war and raise money. Also, the match was attended by our warriors, who came to the rotation.
- In what form is Seleznev?
- In the form of "Minaia". (FROMthere is). And if they ate seriously, then it’s hard for him. He organized this charity match. It was thanks to Zheka that most of the show business stars arrived, they responded to his invitation.
- Do you think Seleznev will break the record for goals in the new UPL season?
- God forbid that he beat. I can only wish that for him. He recently came to visit us in the Kovel region for a charity match. I note that he constantly spoke Ukrainian with us. It's hard for him, but he tries.
Then they started laughing at him in our company because of the pronunciation, but I immediately stopped: "Only the one who does not try will not learn." I told him: “Zheka, don’t pay attention. You can make mistakes in the pronunciation of words, but you try, and soon you will sing like a nightingale.
- In addition to charity matches, you are engaged in volunteering. Oleksandr Kucherenko told us that you went with him to the Donbass, carrying humanitarian aid.
- Yes, we go to the guys at the front, we constantly carry something. We went to Sanya's native land (he is from Slavyansk) - to Kramatorsk, Slavyansk, Bakhmut. These places are bombed every day, and it's really scary.
When I arrived in Kyiv for coaching studies, it was already relatively calm there. But when I drove along the Zhytomyr highway towards Bucha and Irpin and saw the horrors that the invaders were doing, I got very angry. Moreover, my sister lives in Bucha.
— How did your sister survive the occupation?
- They managed to go to another sister in Ternopil by country roads. The apartment in Bucha survived, only a fragment caught it.
“They said that they didn’t want to see us at the World Cup. Perhaps there is some truth in this.”
— Let's move on to the topic of football. UPL will start soon. Do you think it is the right decision to hold matches in Ukraine when rockets continue to fly?
— I have mixed feelings about this. When I was invited to the veterans' match in Kyiv, I said that now it's a little not up to it. To which they answered that we should show that the country lives and we are not afraid of anyone.
As a result, we had a match with our warriors and helped the guys switch a bit.
The same goes for the championship. Maybe this is right somewhere, because we need to show that we have not given up. Everyone in our country tries to live, work and be useful, despite the fact that they arrive every day.
On the other hand, I don't know how to guarantee the safety of the match participants at this time.
- In what cities, in your opinion, can matches be held?
- I played my last charity match in Uzhgorod. It's probably safe there... relatively safe. Now in Ukraine there are no completely safe places.
I have already been asked if I am ready to play in such conditions. I answered yes. People in Kharkov, Nikolaev, cities of Donbass live and work every day, despite the constant bombing. But I'm not ready to sign for the rest of the people, whether they are ready to play.
The guys from the front line told me: “On the one hand, it’s a shame when you come to Kyiv and see that people live as before: cafes, restaurants work. But, on the other hand, it is correct. Life goes on and for this we are fighting at the front, so that there is a peaceful life here.”
— Is it possible to play championship matches in your native Lutsk?
— Not ready to answer. I can say that we want to hold a charity match in Lutsk and I am ready to go and play.
- What is your opinion about the departed legionnaires?
— They can be understood. I can only thank those legionnaires who were not afraid to return to Ukraine during the war.
- What do you think, who will be the favorite of the UPL this season?
- I think it's Dynamo, but anything can happen in football.
- Will the renewed Shakhtar with Jovicic roll back a lot?
- I don't think. Shakhtar is a big club and I think the Pitmen will perform at the level. But it will be harder for them than Dynamo, because earlier Shakhtar relied on high-class legionnaires, and now they will have to recruit their own trainees.
I can't say about other teams. I stopped following football altogether. There's just no time. A friend has already called, in a couple of days we will drive cars from the West of Ukraine to the front.
The last matches we managed to watch were when Ukraine played the playoffs with Scotland and Wales.
- What did we lack to enter the World Championship?
- I liked the game of the national team, but with the same Wales somewhere there was not enough luck. With Scotland, we played more on emotions, and in the second match, physics had an effect. It was clear that our players lacked playing tone.
If the referee had appointed a clear penalty for a foul on Yarmolenko, then everything could have turned out differently. After that, conversations began that they did not want to see us at the World Cup. Perhaps there is some truth in this.
- Does this Petrakov team have potential?
— The potential may be good, but in this situation it is difficult to predict something. I communicate with many Dynamo players, more often with Zhora Buschan, and I can say that they are constantly on their phones, reading the news and worrying.
- Did Dynamo residents somehow help you in volunteer activities?
- Yes. The same Bushchan, Shaparenko, Burda, Sidorchuk helped me drive several cars to the front line. I called them, and they did not refuse, they immediately turned on to the fullest. Honor to them and praise for this. It is hard for the guys to play football when there is a war in the country.
In this situation, it is impossible to look into tomorrow, which is why I do not plan anything. I stayed to work as an assistant coach at the Volyn children's school. But, to be honest, I haven’t even been to training yet. Either I went to a charity match, then I went to the front line, then I went behind the cars. It's good that people in the club understand this.
“There were no cosmic salaries in Volyn and everything was paid on time”
— What happened to the main team of FC Volyn?
- There will be no first team in the new season, it was frozen for a year. What will happen next, I don't know. All the guys ran off to other teams. Only the children's school remained.
— What did the management say?
- I do not know. I don't have direct contact with management.
- Last season, there was a lot of talk that new investors should come to Volyn. Why didn't it work out?
— I also heard about it, but I don’t know the details. I didn't see them at the club.
- Did the management of Volyn fully pay off the coaching staff and players?
- In this regard, everything is fine. There were no cosmic salaries in the club and everything was paid on time.
— What are your future plans in your career? Do you want to continue coaching or maybe try yourself in an administrative position?
- I'll tell you a story. It was the last session for obtaining a coaching license, and at that time we were driving to Donbass. I had such emotions then that I said: “Why do I need this license, I won’t go for it at all!”. But they convinced me. They said that the war would end sooner or later and the A+B license would come in handy.
Now it's hard to guess what I'll do after the war. The day has passed, and thank God. In Volyn they constantly say that tomorrow Belarusians will attack us. I hope the Belarusians will not agree to this, although we understand that everything depends not on them, but on Putin.
- What is your worst memory of the war?
- There are a lot of terrible memories and I don’t really want to talk about them. When I drive towards Donetsk and pass the destroyed settlements, it feels like I was in an apocalyptic movie.
Some houses are destroyed, in others the windows and doors are clogged with plywood, people are not visible. It was scary to look at it. But the worst thing is the dead and maimed children.
For the last two months, I have stopped answering calls from Russia, although I get calls from adequate people who understand the situation.
— I want to touch on the topic of mass silence of Russians. Did one of your ex-clubmates from Lokomotiv call or write to you after February 24?
- Yes, they called me, and not one. Someone offered help, someone offered housing in Georgia and Spain. But I am offended that only 20% of those that I thought contacted me. A lot of people are just afraid to speak up.
- Who called you?
- I don’t want to name names, because with them it can play an evil role. Although it annoys me when they say that in Russia they can go to jail for this. We have people dying every day! Slightly different situations, right?!
For the last two months, I have stopped answering calls from Russia, although I get calls from adequate people who understand the situation. Some of the ex-football players of Lokomotiv even went to rallies against the war in Moscow.
They also try to explain to other football players who support Putin's policy that we have a war going on, the destruction of the Ukrainian people, and not some kind of "special operation". Three managed to convince. I wouldn't have the patience for that.
But when I started going to the front line, I somehow cut off sharply, I don’t want to communicate with them anymore.
— Let me guess, Putin's admirer Dmitry Tarasov definitely didn't call you.
- To Tarasov, as well as to other ex-partners in Lokomotiv, I threw off a lot of videos about the war. He wrote to me: “How are you, are you all right? Why did you send this to me?" I answered: "Dima, we have a war." He wrote in standard phrases: "War is bad, I am against war." I say: "It's good that you are against the war, but it was unleashed by your" polite president ".
He didn't answer me anymore.
- Did Tarasov also wear a T-shirt with Putin when you were at Lokomotiv?
- There was one case that we quarreled with him because of this. When I saw this T-shirt from him, I took it and hid it. Then he nevertheless found it and quietly put it on. If I had known then what would happen, I would have burned this T-shirt right in the locker room.
It's too bad they're so brainwashed. Some of Lokomotiv tried to prove something to me when there was Maidan. I immediately told them: “Guys, turn off the TV. You travel to Europe, not live in yurts in Siberia, you must have critical thinking.”
I am scared to watch how the occupiers bring television screens to the destroyed Mariupol and broadcast their propaganda. You better bring water to people, freaks! All these Solovievs, Kiselevs, Skabeevs should be the first to be put in the dock in The Hague together with Putin.
— Did you communicate with Semin?
- Not. He didn't call me, and I didn't call him either. What position he has, I don't know.
- You say that many in Russia are afraid to speak out, but the former captain of the national team Igor Denisov, with whom you played in Lokomotiv, was not afraid, and he was not imprisoned for this.
— With Denisov, we communicated very closely in Lokomotiv and, among other topics, touched upon the situation in Ukraine. He always had a clear position on this matter, and I am glad that he did not change it. Respect to him for this.
- Why don't other players take an example from him?
- They are probably afraid that they will be fined or imprisoned. But our people are afraid that a rocket might fly into their house. These are different values.
“Zozulya handed me the Airport book about our cyborgs, and I didn’t know where to hide it at the Lokomotiv base
- It's clear with the Russians. But what can you say about Tymoshchuk, who is from Lutsk, and his father is now in the defense? Why is the former captain of the Ukrainian national team silent and continues to work at Zenith?
- I cannot understand Tymoshchuk's position when there is a full-scale war, his parents are in Lutsk, and he is there. Now there can be no gray, there is only white and black.
I also played in Russia after 2014, but then there was not a full-scale war. Over time, I began to delve into the situation, communicate with the guys at the front. They told me: “Okay, we know your position. You help us in any way you can. We have no claims against you."
But then it was impossible to talk about it, because I was in Russia.
- How did Lokomotiv react that you are helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine?
— Nobody knew about it. I understood that at any moment everything could end badly for me if they found out. I tried to do everything quietly.
I remember how Zozulya handed me the book "Airport" about our cyborgs, and I did not know where to hide it at the base so that no one would see it. I don't know what people with cotton wool in their heads are capable of.
- Yaremchuk and Vasilkov said that Ordets also helps in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, although he remained in Russia after February 24 and only recently moved to Bochum.
“Now you have to choose the side of evil or good. I repeat, there can be no gray.
- Was there a lot of hate in your direction from Ukrainian fans when you played at Lokomotiv?
“Heit was enough, but I was ready for it. I understood that I could earn money there and directly help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The rest of the factors were secondary for me.
- You played with Alexander Aliev for a long time. Tell me honestly, were you surprised when he joined the defense? None of the fans expected such an act from him.
- Aliev pleasantly surprised me, but I expected something like this from him. I met him at a charity match, we talked a little. Sanya is handsome, there is nothing more to add.
— Why does he now have such a contrast with his best friend Artem Milevsky, who during the war was remembered only for crying in a bomb shelter and demanding soup from Dasha Astafyeva?
- I also talked with Artyom. Each person helps as much as he can, and it is not necessary to pick up a machine gun. Milevsky also volunteers whenever possible. Now people who are sitting in Germany or Canada are talking about that ill-fated soup, but Milevsky stayed in Kyiv and did not go anywhere. This is the main thing.
In this situation, you don’t need to discuss anyone, you need to take an example from those guys who are on the front lines and thank them every day: the Armed Forces of Ukraine, theterodefense, doctors, volunteers. It is thanks to them that we are now recording our interview.
Now is not the time for football. A nephew of my acquaintances at the front was killed and he had to be taken away. We went there, but they didn’t give it back to us, they said that there is a separate procedure and a special group is transporting it. When you see this, football and everything else fades into the background.
- How do you assess Zelensky's actions during the war?
- For me, Zelensky top. He was not afraid to stay in Kyiv at such a difficult moment and deserves only respect.
- What do our soldiers say about the situation at the front?
- It is difficult to create a general picture, the situation is different on each sector of the front. In Donbass, the enemy is advancing, while ours are defending, in Kherson it is the other way around. We have not gone to the Kherson direction before, but now my friends have gone there and soon we will bring help there. A counteroffensive is now being prepared in the Kherson region, and, of course, they will not tell me any details from the front.
I can say that two of my close friends are already in the hospital - they are Yuriy Dyak and his brother Yevgeny Koretsky. I used to play football with Yura for CSKA, we have been friends for about 20 years. He wrote to me at half past two in the morning that they were going on an assault, and communication with them was lost for three days. Then Yura writes: "More or less, I'll call you tomorrow." As it turned out, "more or less" meant that he and his brother were in the hospital. But the main thing is that they are alive.
- What do you think, when will the war end and what, for you personally, will be a victory?
- Victory will be when we drive the rashists out of our land and liberate all the occupied territories. I would like the war to end quickly, but I understand that nothing happens quickly.
- Do you think the war will end if Putin dies or is the problem not only in him?
- I'm not ready to answer whether the war will end, but it would be a great happiness for all Ukrainians and not only. It's just too easy for him to die, how much grief he brought to our people. Therefore, I want him to die in agony, and as soon as possible.
Andrey Piskun
