Legendary Belarusian Football Player Aliaksandr Khatskevich: Ukrainian Will And Spirit Can't Be Broken

• 8.03.2022, 9:31

Every occupant must know this.

Probably one of the most respected Belarusians in Ukraine is Aliaksandr Khatskevich. He spent the best years of his football career at Dynamo Kyiv, and after working for the national team of Belarus he managed to become the head coach of the club. In an interview for the Reflection blog Khatkevich told about how he faced the war in Kyiv. He confessed that he had conflicts with his parents because of the propaganda on television. He admired Ukrainian patriotism. "It is impossible to get used to the war".

- The question "How are you" is now becoming the most important for any interview.

- I'm OK. I wake up, my relatives are near me - it's good. We constantly watch the information marathon "Unified News" on TV. Leading Ukrainian channels have united to provide uninterrupted coverage. I am not subscribed to Telegram-channels, my wife and eldest son surf the Internet. Naturally, such a flood of news affects the psyche. One can go crazy.

- Excuse me, but is it possible to get used to war?

- How long has it been since the first bombing? We still refuse to believe what's happening. We would like to think that everything will be resolved at the negotiating table and not through missiles and civilian deaths. It is impossible to get used to war - you are simply not ready for it. They say that a man gets used to everything, yes. But not in this case.

- Please, tell us how it all started.

- My wife woke me up at 5 a.m. on February 24. I finished watching Champions League football at midnight, fell asleep, and then Ilona wakes me up and says something is exploding out there. My first thought: 'Someone is out celebrating, perhaps - we live in the centre'. And then I see something flying, as it turns out, into Gostomel and I don't understand anything, because I've never seen anything like that. Then there is an explosion a few dozen kilometres away, windows shudder, flames rise. I realise something is wrong. Turn on the TV - and yes, the war.

- When was the scariest moment?

- The first two days. There is a car park in our house, which serves as a bomb shelter. The siren sounds for the first time and you're paralysed. No idea what to do. Take the lift? Run down the stairs? What should you take with you? But gradually you learn - some moments and actions are repeated every couple of hours. You take water, food, warm clothes to sleep in the car. It's hard to call it sleeping, though. Out of 90 flats in the house, people are left in 15. We have organized the watch duty, so from 10 p.m. till 7 a.m. we take turns to look after the house. We run about 15 kilometres in a day. The siren goes on - we rush from the 11th floor to the air-raid shelter. Then back - and it goes round and round.

"My parents have completely different information"

- Do you go downstairs every time the alarm sounds?

- On the third or fourth day, when the siren sounded, we stayed in the flat a couple of times. But if there was a warning that shelling or an air raid was possible, of course, we went to the shelter. In any case, we stay underground from evening until three or four in the morning. Although even that may not protect us, judging by what is going on in Kharkiv. And if it falls down, someone has to be on top to dig us out. That is our black humor.

- And what do your parents in Minsk say?

- They are, of course, very worried. But they have completely different information. Sometimes, you report on what is happening in Ukraine, and they say it cannot be true. They say that we have false information here. I say: "If you do not believe your son either, and rely more on TV, there is nothing I can do". We have conflicts sometimes because of that, unfortunately. But then we cool down and find common ground. I understand that it is not the parents' fault - they only see what they are shown. After all, it is the same in Russia. I keep in touch with some of the guys I used to work with at Volgograd Rotor. I send them videos and photos. And they say that they do not show such things in Russia, they say that the war is taking place only in "DPR" and "LPR". "Special operation".

- Do you understand a certain negativity of Ukrainians towards Belarusians?

- I haven't come across it myself and I hope I won't. But I've read, for example, that football clubs in Latvia are advised not to conclude contracts with Belarusians and Russians. And yet there are different Belarusians. Some fled from the Lukashenka regime after the events of August 2020. We shouldn't lump everyone under a general umbrella. There are good and bad people everywhere.

- Who is with you these days?

- My wife, my eldest son, my daughter-in-law, my granddaughter, my nephew and his Belorussian friend. Six people altogether, apart from me. It's easier to bear it together. There is no panic. We have already made up a certain algorithm of actions, a schedule. And the youngest son was with Desna at the training camp in Turkey. He couldn't fly out and we decided he would stay with some friends there. So far, we have decided not to move ourselves, but we'll see. It seems there is an option how to get out. The main thing is the safety of children. But we will definitely come back to Ukraine!

"We will sacrifice our soul and body for our freedom"

- What are your favorite places in Kiev?

- There are a lot of them. I've actually been living in Kiev since 1996, with few interruptions. During this time, the city has certainly changed for the better. There are so many historical places... They must not be touched, I can't even think of any monument being destroyed! 26 years ago, there was nothing on the left bank except Rusanovka. It is not without problems, but the country is developing. Kharkiv is a beautiful city, with its architecture, wide streets. And now it's just destroyed. God forbid Odessa be damaged! Sumy ... Any city is unique.

- Do you speak Ukrainian?

- I understand the language very well, I can communicate in it. But I think and speak more in Russian. That`s how it comes out - and that`s ok. I've never had any negativity because of it; in 26 years, not a single Bandera man has bitten me or cut my throat. I don't understand where these fakes are coming from, that someone is harassed here because of the language. I haven't seen this in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk or Uzhgorod, the westernmost points. I would like the "saviors" of Ukraine and their children to be loaded and brought here on a bus tour. Let them see everything they have already done.

- A number of Ukrainian athletes have joined the army or joined the Territorial Defence Units. Aren`t you surprised?

- I see how they love their country. And sometimes I'm even ashamed for the Belarusians. Our national anthem has the words: "We, Belarusians, are peaceful people". And that says a lot. And the Ukrainian anthem says: "We will give our soul and our body for our freedom". So guys went to defend their country. And they will continue to do so until they die. The Ukrainian will and spirit cannot be broken - every occupier must know this. The country has been at war since 2014 and has learned to fight back. The people have become more united.

"There is constant zombification"

- What do you think of athletes who do not speak out about what is happening?

- Their opinion won't change anything. Does anyone in the Kremlin care about Dzyuba's conventional position? Athletes have been speaking out in Belarus too. But there were not many of them. It is a system. Of course, we would like to hear more voices of athletes, cultural figures, but in the nearly 30 years of independence of Belarus, Russia, the propaganda has greatly affected the minds of people. Not everybody perceives the information critically. If you watch the State television, you will die 20 years earlier. There is constant zombification - people trust the television more than their relatives and friends who have seen everything with their own eyes. This is scary. As Sergei Shnurov said:

- We should be proud of peace, not of war,

Of culture, not of an army of sheep,

Of a happy country, not a poor one,

Where lies are told on the screen.

And it really is. When you are told every day that everything is fine... You may be fine, but at that you see the real life of ordinary people.

- In 2014, you thought the war in eastern Ukraine could last indefinitely. And now?

- Uncertainty is the worst thing. Any war ends sooner or later, but what will be left after it? How many people will die? What will they write in the history books? It is hard to imagine. It is obvious that Russians and Ukrainians will lose normal human relations for dozens of years. But the main thing is that Ukraine was and will be independent.