Forced to flee Ukraine
Sofiia Kiritsa and Oleksandra Rubanova have known each other since September 2021, crossing paths on the basketball circuit as Kiritsa joined Rubanova's club, which was centered in Kyiv, Ukraine. To their friends, Kiritsa is known as Sonia, and Rubanova as Sasha.
Upon Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kiritsa, 17, and Rubanova, 16, managed to flee to Latvia with a group of teachers and coaches before that became an unsustainable option after living there for 13 months. In May 2023, the two eventually moved to Massachusetts.
The girls eventually ended up in Naples, Florida. They started at Lely High last fall and were members of the Trojans basketball team this winter. For their perseverance, Kiritsa and Rubanova received the Southwest Florida Courage Award, an annual honor given to regional athletes who exhibit strength on and off the field.
Their strength serves as a reminder of the grueling fight in Ukraine.
“We just want everyone to know that the war is still going, and people are still dying every day," Rubanova said. "We just want as many people as possible to help with donations. We really want to finally end this war, and we want to start to live a new life.”
Their story underscores a reality that many Ukrainians who have fled the war with Russia are facing: Being thousands of miles away from home, reading about and seeing the damage being done in a war that doesn't show any signs of ending anytime soon.