Ukraine The Finnish hockey player continues to play in Ukraine despite the threat of war and his mother’s requests

Eetu Moksunen, 25, plays as a professional on the Kiev hockey team. He admits that he has not just wondered what he would do if Russia launched a new attack on Ukraine.

“I would go with the instructions of the authorities. I think we just have to act on the situation. It’s hard to plan when no one knows what’s going to happen and where it’s going to happen, ”he says.

Moksunen started on the Sokil team in December. However, Ukraine is not a completely unknown country to him, as he played there last season.

In any case, the Finnish hockey player is a rarity in Ukraine.

Admittedly, Ukrainian hockey has been in turmoil. Moksunen says that in the autumn, teams were separated from the national championship series, which together with others established a new series.

Moksunen is playing away games in the east this week, close to the line of contact between the Ukrainian government and the Russians.

“We are playing in Druzhivka. It is a small place in eastern Ukraine. Next to it is Kramatorsk, where two teams play. It is quite close to an area that is no longer under Ukrainian control, ”Moksunen describes.

According to Moksunen, the hockey team Donbass is currently playing in Druzhivka, the stages of which have been affected by the occupation of Crimea that began in 2014 and the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

“It’s the biggest team in Ukraine. Their halls were destroyed at the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine and evacuated to Druzhivka. ”

Read more: Ukrainians are forced to appear calm, even though Russia is gathering troops at the border, says a Finnish border colonel following the situation in Mariupol: “Panic strikes really suddenly”

What kind is it to be a hockey professional in a country where there is a threat of an expanding war?

“From my point of view, everyday life is quite similar to my previous visit here in Ukraine. It doesn’t show up here in the street scene, for example. ”

Moksunen doesn’t talk about Ukraine or Russia, so he’s not entirely sure if there’s talk of war in a locker room, for example. At least with English-speaking players, the war has not come to the fore.

However, the situation of the team is interesting in that half of the players are Russian.

“Somehow I have a perception that they get to read and talk about the war enough anyway. That may not be the number one topic in the ice rink, ”says Moksunen.

“At least it doesn’t affect the team spirit in any way. We have a really good team spirit. And I have not at all noticed that there is any harm in citizenship. We are all on the same line. ”

Moksunen In addition to Ukraine, he has played in the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. He has played on the team that won the Lithuanian championship, among other things.

“What I’ve played in more than one country now has been the latest talk in the locker room.”

Finn has not discussed the threat of war with the team leadership either.

However, relatives have been worried about the man. The mother has unnecessarily asked her son to leave Ukraine.

“I don’t know if it’s my own ignorance or sheer stupidity, but I don’t stress it at all. ”

Read more: “I don’t feel panic here,” says a Finnish woman living in Kiev – Finland does not urge its citizens to leave Ukraine, but “there is cause for concern”

What through Moksunen will follow the events in Ukraine?

“I depend on Finnish news. How politically correct it would be: maybe there will be a bit of swelling in other things as well. I may not be able to identify with the situation that creates an image there, ”says Moksunen.

“Yes, it is that if something happens, hockey is the least important thing at that point. Yes, it would be hoped that everything would go well for some kind of non-military solution to be found. ”