Ukrainian referee Boris Ryzhyk will be able to work in the Italian league / News - Basketnews.com

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Ukrainian referee Boris Ryzhyk will work in Italy thanks to an initiative wanted by Gianni Petrucci, the president of the Italian basketball federation. Ryzhyk, 45, on February 24, the day which the Russian army invaded Ukraine, showed a sign with the message 'Stop War' right before the game between Olympiacos and Armani Exchange Milan.

Ryzhyk will be used as a referee in the Serie A games, including the playoff ones. In an interview with the Italian newspaper 'Il Corriere della Sera', the Ukrainian referee expressed his gratitude to Italy and talked about the situation in his country.

"For days and days I was lost", Ryzhyk confessed during the interview. "Then I thought that life goes on, we don't know how long the war will continue so we have to do with professionalism what we do best. I'm a referee and so that's what I'll continue to do".

"The idea of the sign that I showed before that game came straight from my heart. This was and it's still an aggression war. Although I'm not a supporter of something like that, I can understand in some ways a war where soldiers kill other soldiers, but not one in which women, children, and old people are killed".

The referee expressed his appreciation for the Italian basketball, talking about some of the legends of the game in the country.

"I've been a professional referee since 1992, in 1997 I started to referee at the international level. I had many contacts with Italian basketball, I know its history: Meneghin, Fucka, Myers, Basile, Datome. And then a name that says it all: Ettore Messina. I saw the solidarity that the Italian people showed to my country and I wanna thank them".

"Would I be able to referee Russian teams? In my line of work, I never made any difference between people with white shirts, black shirts, or red shirts. I'm not a politician but I don't see how Ukrainian and Russian teams can play against each other soon, there are deep wounds, it'll take time".

Ryzhyk also explained what hurt him the most about the conflict so far: 'Hearing about things like denazification of Ukraine. It's completely false. I was born in Ukraine but my language is also Russian and it's the same thing for half of the Ukrainians. I've never had a problem with the Russian culture".

The president of the Italian basketball federation has been amongst the most vocal figures in the European basketball in condemning the Russian invasion and the laxity shown by FIBA, which hasn't made a final decision about the potential suspension of Russia from all the international competitions.

The Italian federation already announced that they won't play the scheduled game against Russia this summer for the FIBA WC qualifiers.

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