In the interview for the FBU press-service, the guard of “Prometey” and the National team of Ukraine Illia Sydorov told about the action held the day before the match against Italian team on the last year’s Independence Day. That day, players of Ukrainian National team appeared on the court of “Arena Riga” with posters demonstrated different facts about the full-scale war in Ukraineю

Our team reminded the sports world what Ukraine is going through due to the full-scale Russian invasion. And the author and initiator of that action was Illia Sydorov and his wife.

- It was just coincidence that we played against Italy right on the Independence Day and there was a desire to hold some kind of action during the game. But it turned out that it was not so easy to do, approval from FIBA was needed, so we decided to hold an action after the morning training, spread the word on social networks, considering the fact that Mykhailiuk and Len have many followers.

Why figures? The idea was to make it easier for people who do not have any information to comprehend it. Actually, together with wife, we found quite quickly what to place on the posters – there was a lot information about square kilometres occupied, about the number of people killed in Mariupol and soldiers killed in Olenivka, about children killed during the war, killed coaches and sports people, about the number of ruined buildings and sports facilities, about the number of people who were forced to leave their homes. There are enough terrible situations, and their number is only rising up.
 

- You support Ukraine and Armed Forces quite actively. Not once, you held auctions and fundraisings. Tell, please, about this.

- I am originally from Kharkiv and know about all that horror that people went through. My brother lives near the airport, which was being bombed from the very first day. With parents, they stayed in the shelter for two or three weeks until they managed to escape to Dnipro. My wife’s sister has lived for two months under the occupation. So, it affected our family, although we were not there.

My uncle, my mother’s younger brother has been fighting from the first days of the full-scale war; he was also fighting during the ATO, therefore the war started not on the Fabruary 24 for us, we have known everything since 2014. I am constantly keep in touch with him, and always know about his moves.

In fact, the last fundraising was especially for him – he and his combat sworn brothers had their car crashed, so we collected money for the new one for them. I have put my “Prometey” t-shirt on auction and raised about 26 thousand hryvnas. I realised that basketball players have less popularity than footballers do, so that I was not able to raise much but  it does not matter how much it was, any amount matters.

The club also collected money for my uncle. We did not publicize that but, for example, Balvin donated a very decent amount although it is difficult for legionnaires to understand the scale of the tragedy, and they are far from it.

I held the first two fundraisings for my friends from Kharkiv. They do volunteering and their “Clean Ukraine” foundation deals with humanitarian aid for Kharkiv region and helps fighters at the front line.

- In your opinion, how important it is for sports people to hold such actions and fundraisings?

- It is very important. Perhaps, it is not so large-scale, but personally, I do what I can. Maybe not very much, but this money can somehow help my uncle. As everything they earn they spend on necessities for their platoon.

Unfortunately, basketball is not svery popular in our country, but players anyway have a certain number of followers – a thousand, two or three. And if all these people donate even small amoney, it will be a certain amount. We must help Ukraine in all possible ways. I will repeat that during the last fundraising, we collected about 26,000 for a T-shirt that would just hang in my wardrobe. Therefore, I would like to encourage others to do the same. Let it be two thousand or five, but it will still be useful. This is the least but one of the most important things we have to do in this difficult time.

In addition, Illia told us about his physical condition and evaluated the performance of Ukrainian National team at the Olympic pre-qualification in Istanbul.

- You have missed the last National team matches because of the operation. How is your rehabilitation going on, are you ready to practice?

- Yeah, I have already recovered. From August 20 and on, the doctors allowed me to start full-fledged trainings, however, we have more work at the stadium and at the gym at the club so far. Contact practice and games 5x5 are planned from the next week. So far so good, nice feelings.
 

- How do you like the National team’s games in Istanbul?

- That is obvious that all people are maximalists, but if to estimate fairly, the result is good. They held a top-quality tournament, slipped on Bulgarians a little bit but in the end, in the overtime, they proved their superiority. They defeated Iceland, so they won everywhere they had to. It did not work with Turkey and Croatia, but everyone saw what Croatia did to Turkey in the final. This team has high-level players capable of deciding the fate of the match, which they did.

Moreover, these were the first official matches of Vitaly Stepanovskyi, the playing has changed, and the game style has changed. It was pleasant to watch the national team, so I'm looking forward to the next matches, when, if I'm healthy, I'll definitely come to the National team to help it.

- The next matches of the National team are scheduled for February at the selection for the Eurobasket-2025. How do you evaluate future rivals?

- It is difficult to talk about rivals, when the selection is played amid the season and, in addition, is stretched for 16 months. For sure, we have to be higher than Portugal. It is even should not be discussed. It is possible to cope with Israel and Slovenia when the team is without Doncic. Indeed, the gus have demonstrated in Turkey that, even without many players, we decently opposed to Turkey and Croatia who have brought guys from the NBA. I think, everything will depend on us at this selection and we have to make it to the European Championship. I am sure, all our players will come to the National team exactly with these thoughts.