He was one of the brightest players of the unfinished 2021/2022 season in Ukrainian hockey. The 23-year-old striker of the capital Sokol Oleksandr Pavlenko, as part of Kiev, in the second season brought the team 58 (30 goals + 28 assists) points in 42 matches of the national championship and the Cup, as well as the Continental Cup. . In terms of performance, Alexander lost only to Anton Ruban. The contribution of the current guest of Sport.ua to the victory of the Kievans in winning the cup and winning the championship title is very important. Perhaps it would be even more remarkable if the team finished the season and the fate of the Sokol championship was decided on the ice and not the results of the current tournament situation.

However, we have not had time to spare for sports since February 24. The war surpassed all plans and hopes. Born in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, Pavlenko, speaking as a Russian legionnaire in Ukraine, condemned Russia’s aggression against our state from the very first days. In his social networks, he urged Russians not to believe in propaganda, posted relevant videos. At this time, from mid-June Pavlenko was the only one of the numerous Russian legionnaires of the Ukrainian hockey championship who did not leave Ukraine. In this interview, the hockey player confirmed his position. And he told how he lived in Ukraine before the war and whether it was difficult for him now with a Russian passport.

“It is impossible to be here in a place where explosions are heard, rockets are flying, real hostilities are going on, people are dying, it is not possible to stand aside and remain silent,” Alexander says. – Every day I communicated with my Ukrainian teammates, relatives from other cities of Ukraine. Of course, for me what is currently being done in Ukraine is incomprehensible. I can’t believe this is possible. I think it is impossible to remain silent at this time. Everyone should express their opinion. It may not influence people who make decisions, but sane people sometimes listen. It is not clear to me how such a war can be unleashed in the 21st century. This is a disaster.

– The possibility of war was discussed for months. You probably also understood that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is real…

– The morning of February 24 will be remembered for a lifetime. These are probably the scariest moments of my life. I confess, I did not believe until the end that this was possible. Even though it was January, the guys came in the locker room before practice and said there would be a battle. Common sense said it was impossible. We Russian men did not particularly believe this. We played here for a very long time and felt comfortable.

We were supposed to practice on the morning of February 24. The next day, on the 26th, we had to go to Kremenchug to play the regular championship match of Ukraine with our main opponent. He had a premonition. The night before the war, I couldn’t sleep for a long time. I fell asleep somewhere after 12 before listening to the speech of the President of Ukraine Zelensky. But it was a little scary… We woke up at five in the morning to my girlfriend’s call. He received a phone call from relatives in the Kyiv region. They told me to pack my things and go to them because there had already been explosions in Kiev and the war had begun. At that time we could neither see nor hear anything from the window of the apartment in Akademgorodok. But we went to the Internet, convinced that everything is really true. I felt powerless, I didn’t know what to do, where to run. In the end we really went to the girl’s relatives to a safe zone in the Kyiv region at that time, on the Odessa highway direction.

– Did you call your family in Russia right away?

– Of course. I was talking to my mom and dad at six in the morning. In fact, they didn’t believe what I said. “Believe me, I hear the explosions with my own ears,” I say… In fact, even then, it didn’t seem like it would drag on for a long time. It was like I was connected. And not just me. We constantly communicated with the guys from Sokol, including the Russians. They were in shock. No reasonable person would support a war. We supported Ukrainian hockey players in the future. And they us. We were in constant communication for the first month and a half. Humanity did not lose anyone in this difficult time.

– Kherson spoke in an interview about the “Nazis of Ukraine” after the Russian legionnaires from the “Dnepr” returned home …

“I don’t know these guys. Maybe they had such a team there that there was no unity. At Sokol our team was one entity. I think none of them will say anything bad about the years spent in Kiev. Yes, we saw that our most active fans love their country. What’s wrong with that? Fans our tribune is the biggest in Ukraine. The guys wholeheartedly supported us, went on trips with the Falcon. We talked after the matches, took pictures. Of course, everyone knew who was Russian and who was Ukrainian, but there were no misunderstandings because of this. Not only in hockey, but in everyday life It didn’t show up either.For almost two years, I felt at home in Kiev.

– Fans began to treat the Russians from Sokol in a special way, after you ate in November last year from Donbass to Budapest to replace the seven matchmakers who were in the ranks of the Ukrainian national team in one day.

We didn’t hesitate. And they were very happy. Even purely in terms of hockey. It is always better to play (laughs) than to take a load off Oleg Leonidovich (Falcon’s coach Shafarenko – author). But the main thing is the opportunity to play at the level of national teams, to help the country in which we realize ourselves as hockey players. It was a new challenge for us. Especially since my father is half Ukrainian. But we have relatives in Odessa, Cherkassy and the Vinnitsa region. Until the age of 12, I came to Odessa, the Black Sea for a vacation every year, I constantly communicated with relatives.

– As a result of that story, it was said that five Sokol players in the national team could get Ukrainian passports. But before the war this problem was not resolved. Currently, Anton Ruban, Yegor Kuzmenko, Yegor Mazhuga and Andriy Alekseev will no longer return to Ukraine. From this company you only stayed in Kiev …

It was offered to us and we accepted. After the war, one of the men had to return to Russia. Everyone has their own conditions. I know that the opinions of each of you that you have listed on the war are sufficient and similar to mine. But I will not subscribe to anyone. I will speak for myself. I deliberately decided to stay in Ukraine and I want to live here. At first I was still hesitant that it might make sense to go abroad with the other men and wait there for the war to end. But we finally stayed. I immediately realized that I did not want to return to Russia. Yes, my family is worried about me. But they understand me.

– Do you understand that the war could still return to Kiev?

– Yes, it’s clear. But am I the only one? We wake up in the morning, we don’t know what will happen in the evening. But still, I hope that there will be no more hostilities in the Ukrainian capital.

– You now live in Ukraine with a Russian passport. So were there any problems under martial law?

– Not. The documents were checked, but I have a certificate that I can be on the territory of Ukraine.

– Alexander, on the background of the war, now almost no one remembers that Sokol made a golden couple. Did you still forget about hockey?

– I want to go back to the ice, because the pause is long. We had a really good season. In the off-season, Sokol has strengthened well. We had a great team, the coaches worked well, the club management fulfilled their responsibilities. We also had a very tight team. This has never happened before in my short career. On the one hand, they contributed to the harmony of victory. Every win is a plus for harmony. But that’s not the point. These two years have been great for me. I don’t know if there could be a better microclimate in Sokol than these two years. I think we reached the finals last year with less star formation compared to the same Kremenchuk, precisely because of unity. This microclimate is the value of our “ancients”. Andrey Mikhnov, Dmitry Nimenko, who were there last year, and Vitya Andrushchenko, Roman Blagogo, who joined us this season. You see, the result comes from the locker room, the discipline that reigns there.

After winning the trophy at the beginning of the year, we united around the dream of championship. Finally happened. But if we had played a series of playoffs, beat Kremenchuk in the final, the feelings would have been completely different. We also felt the strength to beat Donbass. It would be an interesting competition. It is a pity that the league is divided and we will not know whether the Donetsk team will win. I think we had every chance to beat Donbass.

I am satisfied with my performance this season. He played much better than last season. However, I feel there is room for improvement. I will work to play stronger and add more value to the team.

– I think your actions were especially effective when Roman Blagoy appeared in the team and the coach put you in a trio with Andrey Smirnov.

– Good partners, it’s nice to play with them. Roma is an experienced player, he has completed us to a great extent. We really started to bring a lot of points to the team.

– Today, many hockey players of Kremenchug and Donbass signed contracts with foreign clubs, mainly Poland. Sokol players have not yet been in the transfer news. As coach Konstantin Simchuk mentioned in a recent interview, are you waiting for news about the team’s possible application to the championships of Poland, Slovakia or Hungary?

– You can say that too. We are waiting for the decision from the management. The most important thing so far is that Falcon is alive. Time will tell where we will play. Of course, it would be ideal for us to end the war and start again in the autumn at the Ukrainian championship. Thus, not only Sokol, but also other Ukrainian teams live. Because in recent years, hockey has become stronger in our country. It would be a pity if all this was lost …