Ukrainian competitors find Invictus Games in Hague a break from war; Zelensky says 19 athletes part of nation’s ‘indomitable’ spirit

Sporting event for active service personnel and ill, injured or wounded veterans opens on Saturday in the Dutch city

Participants want to spread the word about reality of war back home as well as compete; 20 nations involved in event, Russia has never taken part

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A member of Team Ukraine looks out over a lake at the Invictus Games venue in The Hague, Netherlands. Photo: AP

Published: 11:19pm, 15 Apr 2022Updated: 1:25am, 16 Apr 2022

Until a few days ago, Volodymyr Musyak was on the front lines defending Ukraine from Russia’s devastating assault on his nation. Now he is preparing to pick up a bow and arrow in the Invictus Games archery competition.

The sporting event for active service personnel and veterans who are ill, injured or wounded opens on Saturday and ends on April 22 in the Hague, which calls itself the global centre of peace and justice.

Those concepts seem a world away to the team of 19 athletes from Ukraine and their supporters as they settle in the Dutch city for the games.

Ukrainian team members rest at the Invictus Games in The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday. Photo: AP

“I think that emotionally it’s something that requires time … because we come from a very disturbed area, as we come from the areas where the actual killings every day are happening, the shelling, the bombing, we hear sirens every day,” said Oksana Horbach, Ukraine’s Invictus Games National Coordinator.

One of the team, Taira Paievska, did not even make the trip after being taken hostage by Russian forces in Mariupol where she worked as a paramedic, Horbach said.

Four Ukrainians who were not due to participate in the games but were active in the worldwide community of injured servicemen and women died in March, two while on active duty and two in rocket attacks, Invictus Games organisers said on their website.

Pavlo Kovalskyi, who is taking part in rowing, archery, wheelchair basketball and possibly sitting volleyball too, said that, as well as competing, he wants to spread the word about the harsh realities of war in his homeland.