“Oleksandra spoke publicly about Nadia’s decision to celebrate with Putintseva and others”, — write: sport.ua
Kichenok was in the company of ex-Russian women: Yulia Putintseva, Daria Kasatkina and Anna Danilina. Also with them were Serbian Aleksandra Krunych and Kasatkina’s girlfriend Nataliya Zabiako.
Putintseva and Danilina represent Kazakhstan, Kasatkin – for Australia. Zabiako does not play tennis (a figure skater) and represents Canada.
The Ukrainian spoke about Nadiya Kichenok’s decision to celebrate the New Year in such a company publicly on her Instagram Oleksandr Oliinikovwhich met the year 2026 in Kyiv:
“Sport has an important function of national representation. In the conditions of war, it is the duty of athletes to tell the world the truth about the realities of their country. That is why it hurts and disgusts me to see my colleagues who, playing in big tournaments and having a wide audience, have completely distanced themselves from reality – they live the best life somewhere far from Ukraine.
Congratulating Ukrainians on the New Year in the company of Russians, among whom is a participant in a propaganda tournament organized as a defiant challenge to international sports structures and financed by Gazprom, one of the main sponsors of the war against Ukraine, is the height of cynicism. Unfortunately, this is not the first time I see something like this. And every time I am torn by the realization that my country is represented by people who have no connection with the reality of those who live here. Those who welcomed the New Year to the sounds of alarms and air defense explosions. I don’t know how to properly react to such situations and whether there is an effective canceling culture here.
Especially when, after a wave of criticism, they quickly delete the photo and write general phrases about the desire for peace (or, maybe, about the desire for a “contract girl” to be able to travel carefree again with Russian girlfriends?). But it is precisely because of such people that the perception of what is actually happening in Ukraine is distorted in the world. I am ashamed to have such colleagues. I do not fully understand what this tennis player stands for. But it is definitely not for what I and the majority of Ukrainians who live the war every day stand for: shelling, losses, whose relatives and friends are fighting, and who aspires not for an illusory “peace”, but for real justice.”
In November 2025, Putintseva played at an exhibition tournament in St. Petersburg called the Northern Palmyra Trophy, the main sponsor of which is Gazprom, which, in turn, sponsors some battalions fighting in Ukraine.
In addition to Putintseva, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Bublyk, Veronika Kudermetova, Karen Khachanov, Diana Schneider, Anastasia Potapova and Tallon Grikspor (Potapova’s boyfriend) played in St. Petersburg 1.5 months ago.
As for Kichenok, her sister Lyudmila’s fiance Stas Khmarsky is part of the coaching staff of Yelena Rybakina, another ex-Russian.
PHOTO. Nadiya Kichenok met the year 2026 in the company of ex-Russian women
PHOTO. Oleksandra Oliynykova’s reaction to the act of Nadiya Kichenok
