April 30, 2025

TRAINER'S EYE #153 - "Pokemon GO in Ukraine" ft. Pokemon Go LVIV

TRAINER'S EYE #153 -

When the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Pokémon GO could have easily been forgotten. Instead, it became something more. It became a lifeline of hope and community for Pokemon Trainers living in Ukraine.

In this episode of As The Pokeball Turns, we meet the Community Ambassadors of Pokémon GO Ukraine as they share how they rebuilt their shattered local communities, found moments of peace during wartime, and used Pokémon GO as a way to support each other through unimaginable challenges. From organizing safe meetups during curfew to fundraising for frontline soldiers, their story shows the true power of Pokemon, friendship, and hope.

Listen now to hear how Pokémon GO continues to make an impact far beyond catching Pokémon.

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Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

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WEBVTT

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We are the community ambassadors in Ukraine,

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and here is our story.

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Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where we interview people's experience about Pokemon.

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My name is David Hernandez.

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I'm joined by the community ambassadors from Ukraine here to share their experience with Pokemon.

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How they built their Pokemon Good community and how Pokemon's kind of helping them with what's going on in the world.

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I'm excited to dive into this episode.

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Welcome to the episodes both of y'all.

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Thank you for inviting us.

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And first off, thank You'all for being the community ambassadors.

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I know it's not an easy job.

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and I can't imagine like how difficult it is to do it this time.

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But I want to ask like, when did y'all start playing Pokemon?

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Go.

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Let's start there.

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Okay.

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my story, could be like a bit long.

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Maybe, maybe we should start like with Nikita and, uh, go from there.

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So.

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Story can be long too.

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as many of, uh, as many, uh, like Pokemon Gold players, I started playing in 2016.

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I dunno about you guys, but the first week of, the game.

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and Ole we can talk about, game in Ukraine.

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It'll be similar to other worldwide communities before, I don't know, maybe before covid times.

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And maybe in Covid times, like in any other country, we had pandemic issues and we were sitting at homes and maybe we can talk about something that it is in Ukraine that no other country Like, Ole, do you remember February, 2022 and

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Yeah.

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Yeah, I, I remember, um, the.

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the third day of the full scale invasion and rocket heating residential house in here in Tiv and Tanks, uh, storming iv.

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everyone in the world were catching Corsola, Heracross and we were sitting at homes in panic and fear and like you had no, time even to open Pokemon Go.

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Just scroll and doom, scroll and use it

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Yeah.

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a really, really crazy time.

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I had

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Yeah.

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I.

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for, uh, and,

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too.

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didn't know what to do with it.

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But, I should say like, good thing about, Niantic because, as Nikita said.

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Full invasion in Ukraine started like several days before this Johto a lot of trainers have bought tickets for, uh.

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This event.

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And

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And when the.

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Niantic actually refunded all of these tickets, to Ukrainians.

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we were very appreciated for it.

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And they also shown, us that, Niantic know about us.

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Like despite the fact like, the game is not released here officially.

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They know

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They know.

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Ukrainian, Player base.

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they know we are like buying, buying stuff, they know our political, let's say, situation, our issues.

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They can, uh, refund, tickets, uh, before, like they actually know that we, can't, play, play this event.

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And, I still remember this.

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And, uh, it shows, us that, Niantic supports us.

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It's gotta be kind of, I guess, startling because for me, I remember Johto Tour.

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It was a time when I met with my friends here in the States where we just went and traded like another day.

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But for y'all, y'all remember it so differently'cause it's the time where.

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Y'all gotta deal with Russia, invading Ukraine.

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How did y'all kind of, I guess, come to terms with playing Pokemon Go while also dealing with the conflict that's going on right now?

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Yeah,

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Yeah.

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was the time when I, uh, moved from Kyiv.

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I'm not originally like from IV and, uh, not originally from Kyiv.

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I am, from the south of Ukraine.

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Mm-hmm.

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hometown is, uh, now occupied by, Russians.

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But when the war started, like I was, living in Kyiv.

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Have a study there.

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I was a part like of Kyiv community.

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we had like no ambassadors for, that time.

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and I'm not sure if we, did know like, each other with Nikita.

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but, I think we like, the same events.

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but.

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don't think we knew each other like personally.

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And that wa that was the time, when I moved to Liv.

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Liv is a small, uh, geographic lesson.

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it's on the west of Ukraine.

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like considerate, relatively safe, place.

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'cause it's like far from the eastern border.

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It's, Like very close to the Poland, like European, union border.

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It's like 100 kilometers from here.

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So it's, uh, considered relatively safe and, that's why we can like, play here with live almost, how it gets like, normal, lives and, be, thankful, for this, opportunity and, let's say privilege.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So that was the time when I moved here and, started playing here and meeting Local players it became like, I guess we I guess will talk

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we'll, we'll talk.

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it, transformed into me being, here,

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Mm-hmm.

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when I am even originally from, from w.

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If I can add a little, Pokemon

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By all means, go for it.

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Yeah.

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helps us to forget a little, a little, a little about, everything that we read in youth, like in the first month of, invasion, you couldn't, think about anything else.

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Our first Community day, it was Sand slash Community Day in March, and it was first, sun Days, uh, warm days.

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And me with my girlfriend, time, walked into a nearby park.

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We saw like two or three other people, no, not PokemonGo players.

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And uh, it was our maybe first, uh.

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Time when we tried to forget for an hour about the war and, just played and it was different,

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Yeah, I see,

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I see.

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I.

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the same like, with our, players in IV when they attend events, it's like, Some kind of, relief.

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Like it's an opportunity to spend several hours, like normally play a game like, let's say real law at rest.

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have a coffee together, with, uh, community, discuss the news maybe.

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And, it's not always about the game.

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it's more about, uh, the community and, having time together

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When it comes to just playing Pokemon Go and you're setting up the events, what made y'all wanna become community ambassadors and how has that role changed with what's going on now to back when y'all first started?

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Like, Ole said he moved from Kyiv at the beginning of the full scale invasion, but he was not alone.

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A lot of people from east of Ukraine and from Kyiv moved to the West and from Ukraine, immigrated to Europe or us.

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We lost a lot of people and our communities were shattered basically.

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for maybe one and a half years, community war we had no, like big central community, I dunno.

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But in the beginning, at the beginning of 2024.

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started to see many faces in our telegram group were asking like, where to go to play Pokemon, go in Kyiv, do you rate, where do you spend community days?

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And I started to think like, Hmm, maybe I can, gather these people in one park to help them to rate, to catch some new Pokemon We began creating our community from scratch.

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but then I saw news about ambassador program and I thought, let's try,

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Yeah, my, path, started even earlier because when I moved here to leave, first time, I wasn't interested in playing.

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I had like other issues like, to leave, job, like a lot of other issues.

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My family My family was like on occupied of, at the at the time uh, uh, a lot of other priorities, uh, I guess except the game and a

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and

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who had like, uh, the same situation.

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and several.

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when everything was established, job was okay.

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I.

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My family was safe.

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I decided to uh, like, uh, what we have in here, like in w what is the player base and stuff.

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at that time there like, uh.

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There are like several, several chats.

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Several chats, but were not very active.

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Like as I said, people have different priorities, like different issues.

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And, player base wasn't very active.

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at the time I, uh, met several players.

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from became like, core players of our community during e now, they, they are the core players.

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And we started like, gathering for radars and read events.

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I remember, some kind of literate, in 2022.

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Maybe Hoopa.

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Hoopa.

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That was Yeah.

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uh, our Yeah.

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like, let's say huge, whi quotes, gatherings.

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we had like seven, maybe eight people.

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That was like huge gathering in ViiV at the time.

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And then we started like consistently doing rate hours and the different, rate events for, for some reason, reason.

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our community.

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Uh.

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Always bothered like about race, like community days.

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We are not really community days, uh, uh, raid events.

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Uh, uh, I, me like to, to gather, uh, like for raid events.

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and we did it consistently, let's say for a, for a year, then Then I.

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the community ambassador program I looked through the description for, through the requirements, and, I said, oh, we already doing this.

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Let's, let's apply.

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it didn't even change anything like in our events.

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playing, hosting, like remains the same.

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but we started to took photos because like, for application.

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you need like several photos of events.

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you have hosted, there are requirements.

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Like you, you should have like 10 people.

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for that event.

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And, honestly, I didn't expect like from those, that application because at that time, game wasn't released, officially.

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Like we didn't, have any ambassadors and, I had no, expectation from it because.

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Come on, would they, uh, uh, accept, uh, a community ambassador in the country?

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They didn't even have officially released game, but it happened.

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How it happened for some reason, uh, me and Nikita accepted.

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and then, then.

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uh, we have three for now, ambassador in Ukraine.

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Right?

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Yes, yes.

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and we have, uh, several communities in different cities, who also on top apply.

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I try to, to help them, to go through the process.

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So waiting like for our communities to grow

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It's interesting'cause you've mentioned how you can officially get Pokemon Go in Ukraine.

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I remember, I think Pokemon Go ceased, support in Russia.

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Did that also co, I know that covered also part of Ukraine, right?

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Is that kinda what you're alluding to or?

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I guess, can you gimme some insight on what you're talking about when you can't physically get Pokemon going in the area you got?

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No, no, no.

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Yes.

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in Ukraine, in Ukraine, in any city, you can play Pokemon.

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Go catch Pokemon, look for pocket stops.

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Even in those cities that currently under occupation,

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yeah.

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you can download the game from Ukrainian App Store, app store and uh,

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You

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Play.

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in our, uh,

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Yeah,

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Yeah, so

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are problems with downloading the game and, don donating like, uh, making payments inside the game.

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but it works when you download it.

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It is gotta feel weird starting a community Pokemon Go no less.

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During wartime, what kind of reaction did you get from people trying to do this?

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Like were people for it against it, indifferent.

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I can't say they.

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against it because, this, community and this gatherings, are needed for a lot of people.

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For example, here in Liv, because as I said, can be called like a relatively safe, city.

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There are many refugees and people who moved here, like people who moved here from other cities as I did.

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And, those people, maybe don't have like a lot of connections here.

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maybe don't have like enough, social let's say, except their jobs and something.

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Joining any kind of community, even if it's, Pokemon Go community, it's, an opportunity for them, like to communicate, to socialize.

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It's not, not even about the game.

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It's, about, having a community where you can.

00:13:29.087 --> 00:13:32.418
Go, like every Wednesday you can join an event.

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You, you can grab a coffee, like with those people, discuss something.

00:13:37.455 --> 00:13:42.779
it became, a tight circle of close people which can go to the bar together.

00:13:43.470 --> 00:13:45.090
they can travel together with some.

00:13:45.090 --> 00:13:49.936
We had, several, trips it became, a community of people.

00:13:50.265 --> 00:13:55.423
I can invite them for my birthday, we can go to the bar sometimes after events.

00:13:55.423 --> 00:13:59.173
We have some kind of after party when we can go somewhere.

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Even like, without the game.

00:14:01.408 --> 00:14:01.589
Yeah.

00:14:01.589 --> 00:14:04.349
So, I, think it has, positive reaction.

00:14:04.711 --> 00:14:15.384
And, for those people who decided not to play during the war, there are a lot of them because like people have, their spouse, personal issues and game like is not a priority.

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They just don't play.

00:14:17.423 --> 00:14:18.534
And, uh, that's it.

00:14:18.984 --> 00:14:25.254
And, it could happen that they return and they always know where to go because, we have those, events.

00:14:25.668 --> 00:14:28.053
eventually people People come back and.

00:14:28.053 --> 00:14:30.094
didn't play, since the beginning of the war.

00:14:30.124 --> 00:14:32.193
now I decided like I want to join.

00:14:32.591 --> 00:14:36.461
Interesting enough that, we are something different from iv.

00:14:36.874 --> 00:14:39.738
We don't like, raiding too much.

00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:46.174
mostly gather on community days or Saturday or Sunday, meetings.

00:14:46.621 --> 00:14:51.692
almost every time I see face, like some someone, uh.

00:14:52.331 --> 00:14:53.471
Just started playing.

00:14:53.532 --> 00:15:04.690
Like a goes on our meeting and, Someone like, Having time to play Pokemon Go And, next day they are, going to the front lines.

00:15:04.942 --> 00:15:09.072
our community is not like, close circle of friends.

00:15:09.417 --> 00:15:14.907
We have, many people, like someone we know closer, some, someone is like first time.

00:15:15.256 --> 00:15:28.148
almost everyone said that, community ambassador program is a big deal for Kyiv because if there were no ambassador program, wouldn't know that by anyone in Kyiv place.

00:15:29.447 --> 00:15:34.758
They would have no motivation to go on rate days or community days.

00:15:35.357 --> 00:15:44.533
And I can say maybe 75% of our players that go to our meetings joined us just because of ambassador problem.

00:15:44.993 --> 00:15:50.559
I want to ask, Nikita, from what your, a colleague here said, he says that you're very big into the PVP side of things.

00:15:50.812 --> 00:15:51.052
Yeah.

00:15:51.493 --> 00:15:55.365
What do you enjoy about PVP and how is the PVP seen over in Ukraine?

00:15:55.769 --> 00:15:57.990
Okay, let's dive in some history.

00:15:58.325 --> 00:16:10.510
we started our, PVP tradition, in 2019, when PVP was introduced in Pokemon Go and, Silph Arena website was created.

00:16:11.201 --> 00:16:13.541
began our tournaments every month.

00:16:13.847 --> 00:16:18.974
Our first tournament had maybe 10 people playing and I won the tournament.

00:16:20.683 --> 00:16:21.673
Um, yes.

00:16:21.749 --> 00:16:21.969
Yes.

00:16:22.333 --> 00:16:35.703
and, uh, we had every month, one and maybe two tournaments, and our biggest tournament was, February, 2020, weeks before shutdown, and we had 50 players.

00:16:36.028 --> 00:16:40.769
Six winners of the tournament, five of them, for them.

00:16:40.828 --> 00:16:44.038
It was very first victory in, PVP tournament.

00:16:44.219 --> 00:16:49.082
So our community was growing like, crazy.

00:16:49.119 --> 00:16:54.359
But after pandemics, had no life in person tournament.

00:16:54.538 --> 00:16:59.663
We had some online tournaments, but, playing in person is, not like playing online.

00:17:00.006 --> 00:17:07.507
But after shutdown downs, we had our first tournament, the tournament on January, 2022.

00:17:08.257 --> 00:17:09.876
We had 30 people.

00:17:09.876 --> 00:17:13.786
Some, players from other cities came to our tournament.

00:17:14.281 --> 00:17:21.511
And it was very fun tournament and we wanted to start a new tradition and play every month from that.

00:17:21.571 --> 00:17:28.832
But we had full scale invasion and from that our, PVP, uh, in-person tournaments stopped for a bit.

00:17:29.290 --> 00:17:32.760
But, For me, the most interesting thing is not to win.

00:17:33.211 --> 00:17:34.711
I won a lot of tournaments.

00:17:34.951 --> 00:17:40.201
I was talked to players in Ukraine for years.

00:17:40.590 --> 00:17:49.411
Me and the other guy were like, messy and Christian Ronaldo in football, if you know, uh, what I'm, what I'm talking about.

00:17:49.891 --> 00:17:50.431
Um,

00:17:50.516 --> 00:17:51.250
I know what you're talking about.

00:17:51.780 --> 00:17:52.471
excellent, excellent.

00:17:54.030 --> 00:17:54.361
Yeah.

00:17:55.996 --> 00:18:02.355
Yes, and we were, uh, winning, uh, me winning half of tournaments and he winning another half.

00:18:02.655 --> 00:18:16.299
But it was not that I wanted to bring, for me, the most interesting thing was to teach other players how to play some techniques, some tricks, some uh, little PVP magic.

00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:20.980
And I was, and I'm still the only one.

00:18:21.036 --> 00:18:26.165
Content creator Pokemon Go, Ukrainian speaking content creator.

00:18:26.566 --> 00:18:34.736
When I talk about PVP, about DP Pokemon, some players were saying that, this really changed their, skill.

00:18:34.736 --> 00:18:34.766
Uh.

00:18:35.357 --> 00:18:45.144
Especially when they were playing against me for the first time and I was catching their charged moves and they were react like, what, what are you doing?

00:18:45.233 --> 00:18:46.163
How, how?

00:18:46.493 --> 00:18:49.332
And I, after the game can talk with them.

00:18:49.422 --> 00:18:55.632
Like saying, you know, I, not just tapping, I am counting something while tapping.

00:18:55.932 --> 00:18:56.471
Whoa.

00:18:56.652 --> 00:18:57.642
It blows their mind.

00:18:58.346 --> 00:18:58.886
Yeah, it,

00:18:58.906 --> 00:18:59.196
Yeah.

00:18:59.336 --> 00:19:02.517
blow my, my mind when I watched one of your videos.

00:19:04.166 --> 00:19:07.856
Yeah, I, I will, I was also, uh, them.

00:19:08.172 --> 00:19:10.378
We had, Ukrainian based, faction.

00:19:10.758 --> 00:19:13.835
and we called it, uh, power of Borsch.

00:19:14.255 --> 00:19:28.325
You know, Borsch is truly Ukrainian dish and every other opponent, when saw our naming said wa, it's is the, the best name of the team that we can imagine power of Bosch.

00:19:28.384 --> 00:19:30.184
And we played really good.

00:19:31.325 --> 00:19:32.075
uh, gathered.

00:19:32.130 --> 00:19:35.130
Every top Ukrainian player.

00:19:35.432 --> 00:19:43.863
But, after full scale invasion, some of them stopped playing and after Silph shut down, more stopped playing.

00:19:44.180 --> 00:20:05.313
But, we continued playing with our Faction and, our Faction was disbanded, because we had, Some problems in Ukraine, with, electricity, after bombing we had no electricity, no internet connection, and it was tough to play a lot PVP, especially when you have to with someone from other countries.

00:20:05.625 --> 00:20:14.113
I can say right now from seven top players, maybe three or four of them are active players.

00:20:14.952 --> 00:20:20.413
If we talk about, online tournaments right now, it's not our main focus.

00:20:20.603 --> 00:20:32.728
my main focus right now is our, ambassador events, and a lot of people that I saw for the first time, and most of them are casual players, you want to play PVP competitively.

00:20:33.462 --> 00:20:43.290
have to spend a lot of time just in one or two hours, maybe a day playing, go back leagues, studying, watching something, thinking.

00:20:43.694 --> 00:20:45.861
it's really almost like a professional sport.

00:21:31.862 --> 00:21:36.031
I wanna switch gears and I wanna come back to the community ambassador in Pokemon Go and Ukraine in a little bit.

00:21:36.342 --> 00:21:37.961
What is each of y'all's favorite Pokemon?

00:21:38.390 --> 00:21:39.200
Favorite Pokemon.

00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:41.339
My favorite Pokemon is Lucario.

00:21:41.623 --> 00:21:48.192
for me, best fighting and I love fighting PVP some challenge.

00:21:48.192 --> 00:21:51.972
And for me, is my, uh, number one Pokemon.

00:21:52.768 --> 00:22:00.067
How, how it is ranked in PPI, I'm sure like, uh, Pokemon should be very useful in.

00:22:00.073 --> 00:22:03.913
you trust in your favorite Pokemon, it is number one for you.

00:22:05.471 --> 00:22:06.701
Oh, the heat is a fire.

00:22:07.422 --> 00:22:07.811
I love it.

00:22:09.027 --> 00:22:13.707
It's not the matter of its size and with the species, it's a matter of how you use it, right?

00:22:13.982 --> 00:22:14.432
Yes.

00:22:14.438 --> 00:22:14.853
Yes.

00:22:15.164 --> 00:22:15.384
In.

00:22:15.525 --> 00:22:19.575
There's a lead four member who says A battle with your favorite, so that's what he's leaning against right now.

00:22:19.977 --> 00:22:26.863
We have our one PVP player, uh, that said that there are no bad Pokemon, there are bad trainers.

00:22:27.472 --> 00:22:28.042
what about you?

00:22:28.048 --> 00:22:29.458
Um, uh, O'Hare,

00:22:31.103 --> 00:22:41.403
Honestly, it's not about favorite Pokemon anymore for me, I liked, uh, I, I always liked always like, type Pokemon, mm-hmm.

00:22:41.452 --> 00:22:41.633
Hmm.

00:22:42.383 --> 00:22:45.698
starter Pokemon, like I liked wool bazo.

00:22:46.028 --> 00:22:48.221
I liked gr, I liked.

00:22:48.221 --> 00:22:56.592
almost all grass starters, but honestly, I can choose one because this game is not about favorite Pokemon, uh, for me anymore.

00:22:56.892 --> 00:23:00.719
And, not even about goals, goals, or challenges.

00:23:00.989 --> 00:23:12.337
It's about It's about the community, organizing events, host events, About, helping other communities to grow and, building building something like, how to.

00:23:12.969 --> 00:23:19.098
I would I would like to, beco become a platform to do something good, good things.

00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:29.442
mean, I mean, we uh, sometimes do giveaways of, uh, different prize, prices things, and, gather some some money for charity.

00:23:30.196 --> 00:23:36.557
For the Army or for humanitarian aid or like that.

00:23:36.888 --> 00:23:47.548
I think, I think if we have, have privilege, like to live live normal during these, hard times have ability to play, and do something good, we, we should do it.

00:23:47.898 --> 00:23:51.798
for example, as Nikita said, we said the same situation.

00:23:51.798 --> 00:23:53.723
One of situation, one of our members Army now.

00:23:54.058 --> 00:23:55.473
And we and to.

00:23:55.528 --> 00:23:55.828
him.

00:23:56.122 --> 00:24:00.862
for example, one of our giveaways, let's say, we were, gathering money for him.

00:24:00.862 --> 00:24:07.578
Because, uh, they had, uh, some issues with their, uh, car, which was blown somewhere near the front.

00:24:08.479 --> 00:24:13.548
uh, we uh, because of the, it was like more than we expected with some.

00:24:13.852 --> 00:24:17.271
Like not very prices.

00:24:17.336 --> 00:24:19.016
some of them were handmade.

00:24:19.286 --> 00:24:28.566
We have one girl in our community who, who does like handmade, toys, I I, our community to become, become a platform to do similar or even better things.

00:24:28.923 --> 00:24:29.608
So hello.

00:24:29.854 --> 00:24:32.010
about, my favorite Pokemon is

00:24:35.702 --> 00:24:49.262
I think that's such a very good message to send because it's so easy for us who do have privilege, whether we're in peace times, whether maybe we have more money or whatever it looks like for us to kind of just surround ourselves and pretend that problems don't exist.

00:24:49.578 --> 00:24:55.308
But the fact that, you know, you recognize that yes, you know you are in war times, but you recognize that you're in a peaceful area.

00:24:55.848 --> 00:25:01.578
That you want to give back to the areas that are both war stricken as well as who are fighting for y'all.

00:25:02.179 --> 00:25:09.949
I think it's a very noble cause and I applaud you for trying to build something beyond just Pokemon and go the game, but into something that is real and tangible.

00:25:09.949 --> 00:25:09.979
I,

00:25:10.417 --> 00:25:13.153
Yeah, and I was talking about, goals.

00:25:13.544 --> 00:25:17.542
I, gauged catch my desktop, a lot of a lot of times.

00:25:17.877 --> 00:25:19.383
these events and Mm-hmm.

00:25:20.083 --> 00:25:20.778
Uh, I I.

00:25:20.962 --> 00:25:22.643
sacrifice something.

00:25:22.643 --> 00:25:33.929
for example, when it's, Big event happening, like, GOFest, tour, uh, to have to simplify of, some of gaming experience sometimes, for organization.

00:25:34.276 --> 00:25:43.006
somebody is late like messaging me and instead of playing this beautiful event, I should answer them like playing the route and, and stuff.

00:25:43.306 --> 00:25:49.239
And, this is maybe a message for people who want to become, a community ambassador that it's.

00:25:49.239 --> 00:25:50.929
Not Not always about.

00:25:51.459 --> 00:25:54.848
like hardcore or player.

00:25:55.328 --> 00:25:59.682
It's It's uh, about about something for the community.

00:26:00.066 --> 00:26:01.976
because, during these big big.

00:26:02.105 --> 00:26:06.125
I rarely like, play as, as much as I want.

00:26:06.486 --> 00:26:10.326
and instead of this, I am like doing organization stuff.

00:26:11.111 --> 00:26:11.681
I agree.

00:26:11.721 --> 00:26:13.105
the main goal.

00:26:13.105 --> 00:26:16.016
being community ambassador is not for your personal gain.

00:26:16.165 --> 00:26:17.996
It's not beating your, heart.

00:26:17.996 --> 00:26:19.855
Like saying, I am the ambassador.

00:26:19.855 --> 00:26:21.105
I am, the leader.

00:26:21.165 --> 00:26:21.675
Follow me.

00:26:21.675 --> 00:26:22.240
No, no, no.

00:26:22.425 --> 00:26:24.256
It's about helping other people.

00:26:24.675 --> 00:26:26.685
You are employee for them.

00:26:26.895 --> 00:26:30.155
You do what they need and not for your game.

00:26:30.395 --> 00:26:32.286
Like for the people, for the community.

00:26:32.637 --> 00:26:43.407
Spoken like true ambassadors And you know, I hope y'all two continue to do what y'all are doing with Pokemon and go, you know, the fact that y'all are here this far is testament to how strong they are as Ukrainians as a nation.

00:26:43.798 --> 00:26:49.558
having y'all play a role as Pokemon Go Community ambassadors so important, especially during times like these.

00:26:50.038 --> 00:26:52.138
And I applaud y'all for all the work y'all have done.

00:26:52.229 --> 00:26:55.648
I appreciate y'all even giving us insight into what it's like to play over there.

00:26:55.648 --> 00:26:57.568
'cause I think a lot of people we don't know.

00:26:58.039 --> 00:27:01.102
We are playing Pokemon Go like you are in Texas, but

00:27:01.102 --> 00:27:02.932
I know, but people you think people know.

00:27:02.932 --> 00:27:04.311
You think people know this over here.

00:27:04.342 --> 00:27:04.672
Okay.

00:27:06.231 --> 00:27:10.241
But one, one thing, we can't play Pokemon at night.

00:27:10.451 --> 00:27:11.923
We have curfew and we

00:27:11.959 --> 00:27:12.378
Mm-hmm.

00:27:12.644 --> 00:27:18.134
on the streets playing Pokemon in 2:00 AM This is the one difference.

00:27:18.539 --> 00:27:18.880
All right.

00:27:18.900 --> 00:27:23.970
the second one is that you can download from the app store, right?

00:27:24.420 --> 00:27:29.549
Because, because, uh, like, I like to joke that, like they have a campfire, right?

00:27:29.549 --> 00:27:30.059
Campfire

00:27:30.255 --> 00:27:30.615
Sure.

00:27:30.990 --> 00:27:31.529
is needed.

00:27:31.529 --> 00:27:33.359
Like, uh, they, um.

00:27:34.815 --> 00:27:35.174
The,

00:27:35.404 --> 00:27:37.065
The, uh, marketing, like,

00:27:37.065 --> 00:27:48.013
app for finding a community to find a community in Ukraine is, uh, easier than find the campfire in Ukraine because it's also not available like in, in the app store.

00:27:48.269 --> 00:27:48.929
know,

00:27:49.003 --> 00:27:49.034
Uh.

00:27:49.108 --> 00:27:54.170
I have few players that, uh, find our community in campfire.

00:27:54.170 --> 00:27:59.720
They downloaded campfire, opened map, and saw we have a meeting and came to our meeting.

00:28:00.170 --> 00:28:01.279
I have some players.

00:28:01.569 --> 00:28:07.265
we, we also had them, but uh, usually, uh, those people download it, it abroad

00:28:07.724 --> 00:28:08.144
Mm-hmm.

00:28:08.285 --> 00:28:10.744
in Poland or, uh, in Europe.

00:28:11.134 --> 00:28:20.704
They played like there then, uh, came back to Ukrainian Ukraine and, uh, let's see what we have on Kim file and found our, our

00:28:20.855 --> 00:28:23.075
Um, look, I love this interview.

00:28:23.224 --> 00:28:25.744
This is the most illegal legal shit I've ever heard.

00:28:25.744 --> 00:28:26.494
I love it.

00:28:26.494 --> 00:28:28.924
That have made the links y'all are going to, to play Pokemon Go.

00:28:28.924 --> 00:28:30.035
I'm, this is not an insult, by the way.

00:28:30.035 --> 00:28:30.964
This, I love this, so,

00:28:32.599 --> 00:28:35.750
I'm, I'm not talking about, I mean, people are traveling

00:28:36.359 --> 00:28:40.025
oh, I know, I know it, it sounds illegal, but it's legal.

00:28:40.055 --> 00:28:40.625
That's what I meant.

00:28:40.625 --> 00:28:42.694
Like it comes across as like they're doing something shady.

00:28:42.694 --> 00:28:45.275
But no, y'all actually doing stuff that you can actually do.

00:28:45.585 --> 00:28:46.035
Yeah.

00:28:46.382 --> 00:28:51.609
we sometimes have troubles like, how to download Campfire and, people like, say I can't do it.

00:28:51.609 --> 00:28:52.420
It's too tricky.

00:28:52.420 --> 00:28:53.980
I said, how, how you downloaded this game?

00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:58.299
Uh, I just was in Poland and I downloaded it and I play it,

00:28:58.509 --> 00:28:58.730
Yes.

00:28:58.869 --> 00:29:00.730
I, I don't know how to do it again.

00:29:01.750 --> 00:29:01.990
Yeah.

00:29:02.109 --> 00:29:02.619
So.

00:29:03.384 --> 00:29:12.318
wish, I wish we have, we, we will have like, uh, the game release they can file released because it, will make, everything like much more, easier.

00:29:12.318 --> 00:29:17.398
also want like, to have, would be nice to have Ukrainian, like, uh, in game.

00:29:17.848 --> 00:29:19.469
I mean, we can play in English.

00:29:19.648 --> 00:29:20.278
That is what

00:29:20.384 --> 00:29:20.804
mm-hmm.

00:29:21.118 --> 00:29:38.734
but I would love to, to play in my native language, and, regional prices are also a, a thing like other countries have, like, India, Turkey, whatever, like they have like prices, much slower, because, uh,$1 in, uh, United States, it's, not the same$1 in Ukraine.

00:29:39.028 --> 00:29:43.169
I guess our minimal salary is, Less than$200.

00:29:43.464 --> 00:29:49.484
It's hard to, be, how to say, not free to play player, uh, this crisis.

00:29:50.005 --> 00:30:01.134
So So guess I'm not guess I'm, I, I'm, I'm sure, uh, a lot of, uh, people are ready to, to pay, to donate, to buy those tickets, pocket coins, if you will have regional prices.

00:30:01.855 --> 00:30:09.852
if they,higher than other countries like India, Turkey, already just, gives them ability.

00:30:10.207 --> 00:30:24.332
Just wanted to say thank you for everyone who is still thinking about Ukraine, about our people and who supports us, until this day, and I think we'll support us for to come.

00:30:25.382 --> 00:30:26.402
Big thank you for all.

00:30:26.961 --> 00:30:27.250
Yeah,

00:30:27.431 --> 00:30:27.471
right.

00:30:27.615 --> 00:30:27.826
Yeah.

00:30:31.571 --> 00:30:49.420
who listened to this moment and, managed to understand us because I understand how our English is not, is not very good as, and as I joked with David, already, uh, the Ukrainians like to, to, uh, speak in English even if we don't know English.

00:30:49.420 --> 00:30:49.869
Very good.

00:30:51.115 --> 00:30:54.535
And just to let y'all know, I offered them a Ukrainian translator.

00:30:54.535 --> 00:30:55.285
They said no.

00:30:55.285 --> 00:30:55.464
Okay.

00:30:55.464 --> 00:30:56.605
So don't be going like, David.

00:30:56.605 --> 00:30:58.194
Why don't you offer a translator at the other guy?

00:30:58.194 --> 00:30:59.244
No, I offered him translator.

00:30:59.305 --> 00:30:59.845
He declined it.

00:30:59.845 --> 00:31:00.144
Okay.