Ukraine National Anthem Echoes In India As Grandmaster Anna Ushenina Bags Gold: 'Not Very Clear If I Will Be Able To Go Back Home'

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, the Ukrainian national anthem echoed off the walls of a stadium in India after the country’s first women’s world champion bagged a gold medal in the Chess Olympiad on Tuesday.

In a quivering voice and welled-up eyes, the 36-year-old Chess grandmaster Anna Ushenina replied to a question of what this gold meant for her country. “It’s obviously a great feeling, but the medal can’t stop a war,” she said, according to The Indian Express.

Ushenina comes from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, just 30 miles from the Russian border and one of the heavily shelled cities in the invasion.

See Also: Europe's Biggest Nuclear Plant In Ukraine Faces 'Very High' Risk From Russian Shelling: Report

She shared her trauma from back home, where millions of Ukrainians were fleeing for life and struggling for food and shelter. “It was a dreadful time because we were living so close to the border. As soon as we heard the news that the Russians were marching, we had no other option but to flee with our family without any preparations,” she said.

According to the publication, the seasoned player has not gone back home yet. “Not very clear if I will be able to go back home to Kharkiv.” Both her family and she have had to move cities since the invasion.

Just like Ushenina, most of her teammates had a similar story of the ordeal to narrate. Ushenina kept repeating three words inside the media center in India: “I want peace.”

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Photo: Courtesy of Andreas Kontokanis via Wikimedia