Crossing the tape, touching it physically or as a memory, like before the advent of discs and USB flash drives. This is a landmark moment for athletes, singers, actors and even writers – that’s when true recognition began. However, the tape can also be crossed in a bloody way, in a place of betrayal of one’s own country due to friendship with the Russian Federation. Who crossed it and how, as well as what transformations took place in Ukrainian sports and art during the war, is discussed in this analysis.
The state of affairs in sports
Until 2022, this sector was developing quite actively, reaching world-class levels in some sports. Footballer Andriy Shevchenko, boxers the Klitschko brothers, gymnast Lilia Podkopayeva, pole vaulter Serhiy Bubka — these names are familiar even to many who know little about sports.
There were many who could have achieved the same level of honest fame, but the full-scale invasion affected these plans. According to the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, sports results in Ukraine have been declining year after year. To some extent, this industry is sustained only by athletes who actively participated in competitions until 2022. However, according to the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, more than 600 people have died, including not only coaches and other support staff in this field. Ukraine has lost, in particular, decathlete Volodymyr Androshchuk, handball player Mykhailo Tsap, biathlete Yevhen Malyshev and kickboxer Maksym Kagal.
During the war, more than 760 training and competition facilities were destroyed or damaged. At the same time, there are athletes who are not bothered by the difficulties with equipment, because their conscience was probably destroyed by betrayal — by switching sides to Russia.
Among them is diver Sofia Liskun. She won 11 European championships and a silver medal at the world championships in 2022. However, in 2025, her citizenship was officially changed to Russian, and in an interview with Russian media, Liskun even cited the alleged incompetence of her coaches as one of the reasons for her decision. Clearly, Russian propaganda leads to some very strange paradoxes, given that it was with Ukrainian coaches that the diver won her major titles.
Another European champion, karateka and mixed martial artist Mykyta Krylov, claimed that having a Ukrainian passport does not bother him, even though he does not consider himself Ukrainian. The traitor would like to obtain a passport from the ‘LPR’ or “DPR” if they were to become ‘recognised,’ but for now, he is participating in fights under the Russian flag. Interestingly, Krylov was knocked out in the first round in two consecutive fights.
Footballer Artur Murza joined the Kharkiv club Metalist in 2022, emphasising in an interview how impressed he was by their professional approach. However, in the summer of the same year, Murza left the Ukrainian club after unsuccessful attempts to ‘play’ in Kazakhstan and Austria, joining the ranks of Russian footballers and obtaining the corresponding citizenship. At the same time, in an interview with Russian media, the traitor stated that they ‘have no right’ to deprive him of Ukrainian citizenship, but also noted:
‘Today, I am a full citizen of the Russian Federation. Now this is a priority, I do not use my Ukrainian passport here. The most important thing is that they do not take away my Russian passport.’
Former member of the Ukrainian youth mini-football team Oleksiy Yablonsky became a traitor not only from the point of view of ethical norms, having accepted Russian citizenship after the annexation of Crimea. In 2025, six years after ending his sporting career, he became a sniper on the side of the Russian Federation, but was eliminated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in April.
The state of affairs in the arts
The development of Ukrainian writers in all its manifestations was perhaps not as rapid as at the global level, but it was still quite remarkable. In particular, in terms of music, there were quite remarkable results at Eurovision, given the very frequent passage to the final of this competition. The winner of this competition in 2004, Ruslana Lyzhychko, simply captivated Europe with the energy of her ‘Wild Dances’. As for cinema, Ukraine managed to conquer the Cannes Film Festival twice before the war — with the short film Travellers (2005) and the feature film The Tribe (2014). Both films dealt with the specifics of living in boarding schools — a psychoneurological dispensary and an institution for deaf-mute teenagers, respectively. Among writers, we can single out the postmodernist Yuri Andrukhovych, winner of several international awards and considered one of the symbols of the renewal of Ukrainian literature after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
According to the volunteer project ‘Unfinished,’ the war has deprived the country of 239 literary artists, not only during the full-scale invasion, but also since the events in Donbas in 2014. Among those who died after 24 February 2022 were poet Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was tortured by Russian occupiers; writer Viktoria Amelina, who was fatally wounded during a rocket attack on Kramatorsk; and culinary expert Andriy Gudyma, author of the collection 69 Spices for the Heart, who died near Bakhmut as a soldier in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, there is no information about traitors among Ukrainian literary artists.
The situation with domestic film and music creators is quite different. Many artists and actors have used their fame to raise money for the Armed Forces of Ukraine through concerts, for example, or to talk about the situation in Ukraine abroad. A significant number have also suspended their creative activities for a period of time or completely to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and for some, their last performance in life was taking up arms. Among them are actor Maksym Nelipa, director Oleg Bobalo, and musician Andriy Chepil. It is also worth mentioning actor Pasha Lee, who was not directly on the front lines but was involved in volunteer work — his car was shot at, preventing him from immediately removing the body from the scene of the tragedy.
It should be noted that Ukrainian art did not suffer as much in material terms. Creativity does not always require complex infrastructure, large equipped venues or training facilities. Accordingly, Russian strikes on Ukrainian settlements did not cause such major problems.
However, there were also film and music stars whose conscience did not allow them to leave, leaving them alive physically, but not morally. Among them was director Oksana Bairak. Even before the full-scale invasion, she demonstrated a pro-Russian position, and now she is actually in Russia. Bayrak even confessed her love for the Russian city of St. Petersburg by posting photos from there. At the same time, the director restricted access to her social media accounts for users from Ukraine.
Singer Taisiya Povaliy was also not among the patriots until 2022, often performing in Russia. Criminal proceedings were also opened against her for her visit to the Russian State Duma as part of the ‘For Peace and Stability’ deputy group. Concerts were cancelled amid public outrage, and two days before the start of the full-scale invasion, Povaliy travelled to Moscow for filming. She then returned to Ukraine only to pick up her sick mother, later confirming her pro-Russian position through official comments in the local press.
In the early years of the war, actor Danylo Cherkas condemned Russia’s actions, even apologising to his fans on social media for using the Russian language. He said that his family’s house in Gostomel had been destroyed precisely because of Russia’s actions. However, these posts were later deleted, and Cherkas himself was given the lead role in a film produced by the aggressor state.
There are also artists with ambiguous positions. For example, singer Alekseev did not refuse to perform his popular tracks in the language of the aggressor country, stating that creativity does not depend on language. At the same time, after outrage on social media, he nevertheless began to announce Ukrainian-language songs. Singer Svitlana Loboda condemned the war, but did not stop performing her Russian-language hits in Europe.
Conclusions
The war has caused considerable losses to Ukrainian sport and art. Physical losses occurred after explosions, after the torture of civilians, and during the defence of Ukraine in the ranks of the Armed Forces.
Traitors to Ukraine from various factions did not always reveal their position immediately. However, this did not make their behaviour any less painful.
The further development of sport and art in Ukraine as a whole is continuing. Enthusiasm is low, but achievements are being made at the global level, demonstrating our country’s ability to survive in the most difficult conditions and its desire to win.
Iryna Hurt
