Aditya ChaudhuriThe CS:GO professional provides financial aid to his country.
World No.1 and Ukrainian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev has donated US$33,000 to the Ukrainian army amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
s1mple, who is a member of NAVI, a Ukrainian team with a mix of Ukrainian and Russian players, recently delivered an emotional message at IEM Katowice.
Speaking at the Spodek Arena at the semi-finals of IEM Katowice, s1mple said:
“All our players, all players from different teams, and all of you have nothing to do with government decisions.
“My whole career I’ve played with Ukrainian players, I played with Russian players, and I played with American players, and all of them [are] great guys.
“Right now, I stay with my friends, with my real friends. We win together, and we lose together. And all of us want peace for Ukraine and for [the] whole world.
“All of us are scared, and all of us need to show an example at this tournament. We need to stay together as a unit, with our fans, with our friends, and with everybody watching. And we all need to stay humans first.”
Considered as the one of the greatest CS:GO players of all time, s1mple was ranked the best player in 2021, which saw him help his team to their maiden Major win. After a stellar 2021 that saw NAVI take home every single trophy they fought for, the Ukrainian team have had a tough start to 2022, having recently fallen short at the semi-finals of IEM Katowice to G2.
This, though, isn’t the first time s1mple has donated for a greater cause. In November 2018, the Ukrainian star donated all of the FACEIT Pro League money he received to men’s health charity organisation, MovemberUK.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it hasn’t only been Ukrainian athletes who have spoken out against the war; numerous Russian esports athletes and teams such as Team Spirit and Gambit Esport have all released statements against the violence and war.
Most recently, esports tournament organiser BLAST announced that it would not be inviting Russian teams for the foreseeable future.
