At the Beijing Olympics, Ukrainian skeleton pilot Vladislav Heraskevich caused a stir with his appeal for peace. Now the 23-year-old has returned to his war-torn homeland.
“A terrible feeling,” says Heraskevich in an interview with “t-online”: “You lose everything you have achieved in life and you are only fighting for the lives of your loved ones and your country.”
In Beijing, after crossing the finish line of the third run on the Yanqing ice rink, the Ukrainian held up a self-made sign with the inscription “No War in Ukraine” (“No War in Ukraine”) to the TV cameras. “Like any normal person, I don’t want war, I want peace in my homeland,” Heraskevich said at the time.
Now the cruel reality has caught up with him. He wanted to volunteer for territorial defense in Ukraine, but “I can’t go there because of overcrowding,” Heraskevich said. In addition, he has no experience in military affairs: “I’m not a trained soldier, I’m a professional athlete. That’s why I fight on the sports front.”
However, the struggle for survival does not stop on the sports front, Heraskevich said: “We are asking for things that are necessary for the country. We need a no-fly zone over Ukraine now, because if Russian terrorists bomb civilians, the no-fly zone will save thousands of lives.”
.
