Former Lakers player Slava Medvedenko is selling his two NBA championship rings to raise money for Ukraine

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Former Los Angeles Lakers player Slava Medvedenko is selling his two NBA championship rings to raise money for his native Ukraine.

Medvedenko was a power forward on the Lakers’ championship teams in 2001 and ’02, playing alongside Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.

SCP Auctions is donating the entire final sale price of both rings to Medvedenko’s Fly High Foundation. Its goal is to support Ukrainian children by restoring the sports infrastructure of the war-torn country’s schools and launching a network of social sports clubs.

"We want to restore gyms because the Russian army bombed more than a hundred schools," he told The Associated Press by phone on Sunday. "Our country, they need a lot of money to fix the schools. Sports gyms are going to be last in the line to fix it. In Ukraine, we have winter and kids need to play inside."

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Ben Wallace #3 of the Detroit Pistons battles for position with Slava Medvedenko #14 and Rick Fox #17 of the Los Angeles Lakers in the third quarter of game four of the 2004 NBA Finals on June 13, 2004 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

The auction runs from Wednesday through Aug. 5. The Laguna Niguel, California-based company estimates both rings will raise at least $100,000.

Medvedenko said he decided to sell the rings after going to the roof of one of the tallest buildings in his Kyiv neighborhood and watching rockets launched by Russian forces streak through the night sky.

"In this moment I just decided, ‘Why do I need these rings if they’re just sitting in my safe?’" Medvedenko said. "I just recognize