Artem Pustovyi: 'Putin is crazy and must stop doing this to our country' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

All the basketball community reacted to the war in Ukraine. Kalev Cramo left the VTB League, Latvian referees were revoked from the competition, the Lithuanian federation broke all the contacts with Russia and the EuroLeague decided to suspend all games involving Russian teams.

Ukraine / Schedule

Spain Ukraine88-74 Ukraine SpainSun14:00

Jordi Bertomeu urgently called all 18 clubs to hold a meeting on Friday morning. In what may be the biggest problem in this century, the competition is at stake.

Apart from all these, FIBA continued with the scheduled competition calendar. The European FIBA World Cup 2023 qualifiers did not stop. Russia defeated the Netherlands at Perm, 2.000km away from Donetsk.

Even further, the Ukrainian national team had to play their game in Cordoba, Spain. While the country was being attacked and bombed, they were forced to face the Spanish NT. It made no sense.

It was a long and rugged day for all the players, permanently connected to their smartphones following the disaster. Ukraine ruled out to take part in the shooting practice on Thursday morning. Their thoughts were not on basketball.

Spanish Basketball Federation president Jorge Garbajosa confirmed the game was going to be played as scheduled.

One hour before the game, Ukraine left the hotel to take the bus. A hundred Spanish fans were there to show their support. Fifteen minutes later, they arrived in the arena. The expectation was even higher.

Once again, everyone began to cheer the Ukrainian NT. People exhibited some Ukrainian flags and support banners with a clear message: "No war".

Humanity prevails.

An emotional minute of silence was kept before the game. Artem Pustovyi appeared with a drawn message on his face.

The Ukrainian center, currently playing at Gran Canaria, made a huge statement after the game.

"Putin must stop doing this shit to our country. We don't need his f***ing help. He is crazy. Our world can't stay silent about what's happening in Ukraine. He could do the same in other countries,” he said.

Spain won the game, but that was not important yesterday. Ukrainian players left the court rising their flag and crying while fans applauded them.

The basketball community showed unity. More than ever.

Thank you for being with us! Subscribe to BN+ and browse ad-free.