“My whole career I’ve played with Ukrainian players, I played with Russian players, and I played with American players, and all of them [are] great guys,” Kostyliev stated. He gestured towards his teammates onstage with him, three Russians and one Ukrainian. “Right now, I stay with my friends, with my real friends. We win together, and we lose together. And all of us want peace for Ukraine and for [the] whole world. All of us [are] scared.”
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced the start of a “special military operation” in Ukraine after months of a large navy buildup on the border between the 2 nations. Since then, the United Nations reviews greater than 50,000 Ukrainians have fled the nation as Russian forces have moved nearer towards the capital metropolis, Kyiv.
Onstage Friday, Kostyliev’s speech positioned his crew as a optimistic instance of coexistence and friendship. “All of us need to show [an] example in this tournament for [the] whole world,” he continued, after a bout of sustained applause within the venue. “We all need to stay humans first.”
Kostyliev is broadly thought of one of many all-time best “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” gamers. In 2021, the “Counter-Strike” news and stats portal HLTV ranked him one of the best participant of the yr, writing that “an argument can even be made that this was the strongest year anyone has ever had in the history of the game.” The 24-year-old performs for Natus Vincere, or NAVI, an esports group primarily based in Kyiv that, like Kostyliev, has the report of an esports powerhouse. On Thursday, the group posted a sequence of messages in English, Ukrainian and Russian on its Twitter feed outlining the scenario.
“Russia attacked Ukraine,” reads NAVI’s assertion. “We are devastated. Our main goal right now is to try to stay calm and take care of ourselves, our loved ones and those who need help.”
Since the invasion, various esports organizations world wide have modified their profile footage on social media to the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag. In a subsequent tweet from NAVI, the group expressed its appreciation for the assist, specifically for these in Russia who had spoken out in opposition to the conflict.
You can’t think about how vital you assist is. Especially all of the Russian individuals on the road protesting once more this devastating conflict.
— NAVI (@natusvincere) February 24, 2022
Since Russia’s navy operation started, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made repeated overtures to the Russian individuals to vocally oppose the conflict. Some Russian esports athletes, notably, have spoken up on Twitter. The esports group Team Spirit, which in October was congratulated by Putin after successful the “Dota 2” International championship, launched the next assertion on Twitter: “We are against war and we are against violence.” Multiple gamers for the Moscow-based Gambit Esports posted tweets starting from expressions of disbelief to outright assist for Ukraine. One shared the hashtag #StandWithUkraine, alongside a Ukrainian flag and a coronary heart emoji.
On Thursday morning in Ukraine, Kostyliev tweeted from Poland, the place he was getting ready to compete, that his metropolis was being “shelled.”
I cry fascinated with my household and associates in Kyiv
I’m “lucky” that I’m not at house, however you may’t even think about how a lot I wish to be there
Tomorrow I wish to take into consideration IEM Katowice and solely
We do not want regrets, We want assist, thanks everybody who cares #navination— Sasha (@s1mpleO) February 24, 2022
