‘My team said it was no big deal’: US basketballers on life in Ukraine and Russia

As is often the case in times of war, Jordan Swing and Troy Barnies struggled with who to believe at the start of February as Russian troops gathered on the border of Ukraine, where they both played professional basketball. On one hand, Joe Biden had urged American citizens to leave Ukraine within 48 hours. On the other hand, their teams had said they should stay where they were. Swing, a former standout at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, said his team went as far as threatening him with fines should he leave.

“My Ukrainian team [MBC Mykolaiv] initially told us not to worry,” Barnies recalls. “Our team’s management and teammates didn’t talk much about it. We were hearing reports that Russian troops were surrounding the country. But our team’s management, and some teammates, told us that it was no big deal. They said Russia is always bullying countries and Ukraine is one of them.”

Although Barnies and the other Americans at MBC Mykolaiv were never presented with a plan to ensure their safety, he decided to remain with the team and played one more game before receiving a call from his agent, who urged him to leave the country immediately, saying “you don’t have another day”.

Barnies bought a plane ticket out of Ukraine without collecting his final paycheck. Two days later, Russia invaded. And despite pushback from his team, Swing decided to walk away from his contract and flee Ukraine before the invasion, along with several other of his American teammates. “We got together and decided to get out of there, which was a tough decision because the team really wasn’t on our side,” Swing says.

Across the border in Russia, Adaora Elonu wasn’t in immediate physical danger but she was just as confused as Swing and Barnies.