the other life of this head of the Ukrainian tennis federation now at the heart of a humanitarian network

Far from the posh tournament in Paris, the Ukrainian tennis world saw the event in a tense atmosphere. In Zaporijjia, Oleh Panchenko left the courts to help these fellow citizens in the midst of war.

You see, that’s another life“says Oleh Panchenko, showing a photo in which we see him with the Russian player Andrei Medvedev. In the offices of the regional tennis federation he heads, in Zaporizhya, the shelves of golden cups are invaded by boxes of food aid and paramilitary equipment.”For me, tennis, Roland-Garros, these are no longer really prioritiesrecognizes the player. We are at war here!

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From the very first days of the Russian invasion, Oleh and his wife Nataliya put their lives on hold and devoted themselves fully to the war effort, on the side of humanitarian aid volunteers.

“When I have free time before sleeping, I sometimes watch matches, but that doesn’t really interest me anymore.”

The couple prepared meals for the soldiers and refugees, they organized a whole network of humanitarian aid, and they even went to the territories taken by the Russians to evacuate entire families there. “We evacuated more than 10,000 people from the occupied areas, free of charge, with our own vehicles, says Oleh Panchenko. The Russians confiscated two cars from us, and two drivers from our team are still missing.

Moving from tennis to politics after the war

Oleh and Nataliya sometimes have the impression of sacrificing everything for a year, of taking risks, to do what the Ukrainian state does not do enough, according to them. So, after the victory they hope for their country, they want to bring together all these citizen energies raised by the war, in the form of a political movement.

“We are planning to create our political party which would be called ‘Ukraine at heart’, with all those we have seen in action: those who did the right thing, did not steal, really helped The war has revealed to us the true nature of each.”

In the meantime, Nataliya and Oleh are getting ready to hit the road again, in the direction of Bakhmout, where they go regularly to bring electronic equipment and sweets to the Ukrainian soldiers.

The report by Laurent Macchietti and Camille Magnard

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