"I Don't Want to Join the Military"...Ukrainian Soccer Player Who Learned Swimming for Two Months to Illegally Enter the Country

Ukrainian Player Joins 'Enemy Country' Belarus Pro Team
Presumed to Have Crossed Border Area 'River of Death'
"Thousands Subject to Conscription, Some Swim to Enter Illegally"

Ukrainian football player Denys Shelihov joins Belarusian professional football team Slaviya Mozyr
[Photo by Slaviya Mozyr Official Instagram]

A Ukrainian football player has been revealed to have illegally crossed the border to operate in the 'enemy country' Belarus.

Russian local media Sport Express reported on the 11th that Denis Shelikhov (35), a former Ukrainian youth national team goalkeeper, signed as a free agent (FA) with Belarusian professional football team Slavia Mozyr on the 9th (local time). His contract with Ukrainian professional football team Viktoriya Sumy had expired this summer. After signing the contract, Shelikhov expressed through Slavia Mozyr club, "I also played for the Belarusian team Luch Minsk in 2012," and added, "The current Slavia Mozyr coaches invited me to join, and I gladly accepted."

Shelikhov's homeland, Ukraine, is known to be hostile toward Belarus, an ally of Russia. This is because Belarus has been supporting Russia's 'special military operation' in Ukraine, which began in February 2022. It is reported that Shelikhov secretly swam across the Tisa River, located at the Ukraine-Romania border area, known as the 'River of Death,' to get to Belarus. Sport Express cited a source saying, "Shelikhov prepared thoroughly by practicing swimming with flippers for about two months to escape from Ukraine."

In May, the British Economist reported that thousands of men aged 18 to 60, who are subject to conscription in Ukraine, have been swimming across the Tisa River to illegally enter Romania, and that at least 33 people have drowned in this river since February 2022. There is speculation that Shelikhov also fled to Belarus by this method to avoid military service. When asked about this by a media reporter, he drew a line, saying, "That is just your speculation." He then responded sharply, "Don't ask me such questions. Ask the border guards."