19-year-old player retires to join Ukrainian Armed Forces

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has continued to profoundly affect the lives of Ukrainian citizens at home and aboard as the war has brought with it untold economic, human, and social costs. One area of focus in recent months has been the profound need for more manpower amidst conscription and recruitment shortfalls as the Armed Forces of Ukraine reportedly need 400,000 more soldiers to stabilize the front and prepare for counter offensives against the far larger and populous Russian Federation.

This issue has become even more acute as of May 10th, with Russia launching a renewed offensive towards Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv. With the situation being perhaps at its most serious since the start of Ukraine's failed offensive last summer, one Counter-Strike 2 player has answered the call to help defend the nation.

On May 14th, former IKLA UA player Oleksandr "lucky_cryak1" Romanyuk announced that he had joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), giving up his playing career for the time being. The young Ukrainians' career had only just begun at the time of the Invasion, with the 19 year old playing his first matches on HLTV 16 months in the invasion.

While his time in the tier-three European scene was not the most notable, he did rub shoulders with a number of upcoming Ukrainian players including Kyrylo "s4ltovsk1yy" Lytvynov, Artem "kensizor" Kapran, and Yaroslav "byr9" Buryak — who were all recently signed to a new organization founded by Ukrainian footballer Yevhen Konoplyanka.

That world is now distant from Romanyuk as he prepares for conflict as Ukraine looks to liberate their Eastern territory and force a lasting peace with Russia.