Ukrainian tennis player and Russians trying to reach Kyiv: ‘It’s like the hunting season is on’

Sergiy Stakhovsky, a Ukrainian tennis player who joined his country’s army to fight the Russian invader, is in kyiv. He trades rackets and tennis courts for weapons and patrols in the capital, where he guarantees that the enemy will not be able to enter. “We are going to resist for a long time, Russia is not going to take over Ukraine because the resistance is everywhere. It is in the streets, with the civilians, with the whole world. The whole world is against Russia. The question is how many civilians the world wants to see die before these attacks end. That’s the only thing that matters,” Stakhovsky told Spanish newspaper ‘Marca’. When asked if he is afraid, the now soldier does not hide what he feels. “Of course I am scared! But fortunately there is no more crossfire in Kyiv because Russian troops cannot enter the city. There are many barriers outside Kyiv and the only danger is now coming from the sky, with the bombs. Russian soldiers are trying to get to Kyiv, but for us it’s like the hunting season is on. It’s not the best option for them. Everyone everyone knows that if you find a group of Russians trying to get to kyiv, you have to hunt them down.”, underlines the former Ukrainian No. 1, saying that he dreams of the day being reunited with his family. “I think about it daily, I have three children. But now we are at war and no citizen between 18 and 60 can leave the country as long as it lasts.”

Stakhovsky further explains that before joining the Ukrainian army, he only knew how to “use a pistol”. “I had been to a shooting range several times, but that cannot be considered a military experience.”

Then he reported what he does in his daily life in Kyiv. “We basically patrol the city. I check cars, streets, because we have a curfew and no one can go out until the next morning. We patrol an area and rest for five or six hours before we go. move to another zone. hours of rest, we do the military inventory or we practice shooting.”