An exciting meeting.
The Israeli rugby team player up to the age of 18, Yuri Oleinik, met today (Sunday) for the first time in a year, his mother who fled the war in Ukraine, after surprising him during the European Championships in Poland.
Oleinik immigrated to Israel from Ukraine as part of a "superior" project a year ago, and wanted to jump in to visit the family, those who then broke out when his father was drafted to fight the Russians while his mother Masha became an refugee in Poland.
After Oleinik's rise, he was absorbed into the Hapoel Jezreel club and accepted into the Israeli youth team.
These days he went out with the team to the European Championships in Warsaw and after returning from training, the exciting surprise awaited him, which he did not expect.
The Israeli rugby team player unites with his mother after fleeing the war in Ukraine // The Rugby Union
"Mother was very excited and cried," Oleinik told Israel Today, having already learned Hebrew in such a short time.
"Of course I missed my mother very much too and am glad I was given the opportunity here at the European Championships to see her. Hopefully the war will end and we will also be able to return to Ukraine to see the whole family."
Meanwhile, in the championship itself less goes to Israel, which failed to qualify for the higher stages of the home stage, and it will compete in the ranking games 9-12, for the right to remain at the senior level in Europe, to which they rose last year.
Yuri Oleinik and his mother in Poland, Photo: The Rugby Association of Israel
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