The Finnish embassy called on Eetu Moksus to leave Ukraine on 11 February. Moksunen left for Poland, where Tomek Valtonen arranged an apartment for him.
– This is completely incomprehensible. This feels really bad and hard to put into words, sighs in Ukraine in the main series still in early February hockey player Eetu Moksunen says.
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday morning that Russia would launch a military operation in eastern Ukraine. According to Ukraine, Russia has started a full-scale war against Ukraine.
Moksunen himself is no longer in Ukraine. Currently, the Moksunen club, SK Sokil Kiev, who is playing in the main series in Ukraine, is on a game trip in eastern Ukraine. The team still played the regular season match yesterday.
– After breakfast, they are due to go home. My biggest concern right now is that they can get home safely.
Moksunen has followed the discussion today in the whatssapp group of players.
– There’s no panic there. Black humor is being cultivated there about the situation, perhaps it is one way to cope with this.
SK Sokil in Kiev will play seven Ukrainians. The team also includes 13 Russian players.
– Citizenship has not mattered in our locker room. There has been no friction and the team spirit has been good, Moksunen says.
Moksunen, who played for the second time in Ukraine this season, says that the threat of war was not present in the team’s daily life until the middle of the month.
– We lived in an instant. Personally, I believed at the time that the world would be so fair that this would not happen.
A new home was found in Tomek Valtonen’s guest room
Eetu Moksusen left Ukraine quickly. He received a call on Friday, February 11, from the Embassy of Ukraine in Ukraine, urging Moksus to leave the country.
– My thoughts were confused, but I remained calm. On Saturday, I put the wake up 15 minutes earlier than usual and wondered what the right solution was. I also talked to my father and he also said that we have to get out of there, Moksunen says.
On Sunday, February 13, Moksunen flew 900 kilometers from Kiev airport to Krakow, Poland. From the airport he traveled to the city of Podhale.
– In Kiev, the club management wished that I could join the ice training team. That would be the best blow if the games continued later in the spring.
After that, Moksunen played a hockey coach To Tomek Valtonenthat this could help him.
– Tomek took me to Podhale’s ice drills and also offered me a place to live. I am currently living in his apartment with Tomek’s son and another Finn.
Valtonen himself is currently coaching at Dukla Michalovce in Slovakia.
At the moment, Moksunen’s everyday life consists largely of training and waiting. The player’s salary from the Ukrainian club has been interrupted and the entire continuation of the puck is in bullfighting
– Hockey is not important now. What I hope for is that the future of Ukraine will be brighter.