American coach Dennis Lukens, who previously headed Kherson's Crystal, expressed his opinion on the traitor to Ukraine Anatoliy Tymoshchuk.
Dennis Lukens- I accept people as individuals, regardless of their skin colour or nationality. I try not to hate people. But when I lived in Mykolaiv and Russia was bombing our city, it was very difficult for me to stop myself from feeling hatred towards Russians.
I have a close friend who is a Ukrainian soldier. 15 months ago, the Russians captured him. My other friend's family was killed by a Russian missile. So it is very difficult for me not to hate Russians. However, we all understand that this war started and continues because of one man named Putin and the people around him. Of course, I condemn the illegal invasion and occupation of sovereign Ukraine, the country I love and where my son was born and raised.
- How do you feel about the fact that Tymoshchuk remained working in Russia after the full-scale invasion began?
- Well, this is a different situation, because Tymoshchuk was in Russia before the war, playing for Zenit. He has a Russian wife and Russian children. Relations between Russia and Ukraine were good before the war. The war caught him there. What was he supposed to do? Go out and protest against Putin? He would have been arrested and put in jail immediately.
As far as I understand, Tymoshchuk has already left Russia and lives in another country. We are friends, but not close. I spoke to him a few days ago. He is in a very difficult situation. I wish him only the best. He has lost everything in Ukraine, his reputation and his regalia, and, as I understand it, he has left everything in Russia. I would not want to be in his shoes. He told me he was Ukrainian and loved Ukraine.
I even tried to help him and his family move to Ireland. He told me he wanted to leave Russia. He was stuck in Russia before the war and could not speak out for fear of being arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- Why doesn't he now publicly condemn the war and apologise to Ukrainians for his mistake? Yaroslav Rakitsky also played for Zenit, but he left Russia on 24 February and condemned the aggression. Tymoshchuk did not. Therefore, we, Ukrainians, do not understand his position and cannot forgive him.
- I cannot read Tymoshchuk's mind. I cannot call him a close friend, because I have never sat down and had coffee with him. Was he wrong to stay in Russia? Yes, definitely.
He asked me to help him and his family go to Ireland, and I thought he wanted to organise a press conference to condemn the war and clear his name. But in the end, he did not come. Please do not turn our interview into a political debate. I may not have Ukrainian blood, but I love Ukraine, my son is Ukrainian. I condemn Russia and all the actions of its leaders. I condemn all Russians for their silence.
I am a football coach who has lost his house, all his possessions, his car and his beautiful life in Ukraine. I am now holding my 9-year-old son in my arms, who is crying, missing his country and everything he left behind.
- Winger Viktor Martyan played for Krystal, but after the war started, he swapped his boots for a submachine gun and joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Do you think footballers should join the army?
- I have never bowed to anyone in my life. However, I bow to all Ukrainian soldiers who are defending their and my son's homeland.
Of course, I wish footballers didn't have to fight. I wish there was no war at all. But the war is going on, so all healthy men have to defend their homeland, there's nothing you can do about it. Of course, it's easy for me to say that sitting here in the US. But every time I see news about the deaths of young Ukrainian soldiers, I get teary-eyed.
Andriy Piskun
