Your ministry covers both youth and sport. What does the role of Minister of Sport actually look like in a country at war?
"The two areas are very connected. In the sports field, our main objective right now is mass sport - recovery, physical activity at the grassroots level. This is critically important because Ukrainians need that source of resilience, that intervention for their health.
"It is also enormously important for our veterans. We are very active in providing services to them through adaptive sports programmes, working with sports federations that have created special tracks for wounded veterans who are in the process of recovery and trying to return to normal life.
"We are also in the middle of a broader sports reform - giving more autonomy to our sports associations, working with them on good governance, and implementing the European model of sport, which is based on the sports club system and sports as NGOs. This is not only about sport or the health of our nation. It is about community and values for our children."
Is it even possible to secure funding for the development of sport when all resources are being redirected toward the country's defence?
"It is a very sensitive question. Russia continues to destroy our infrastructure, and infrastructure is the most expensive part of sports preparation. We cannot build new sports facilities right now. More than 850 have already been destroyed or seriously damaged.
"Because of this, many of our athletes carry out the main part of their training abroad, especially in winter sports, because winter infrastructure - ice arenas, for example - is extremely expensive to maintain.
"This past winter, during what I would call Russian energy terrorism, when our families were freezing in their apartments due to electricity shortages, we faced a very basic choice: do we give electricity to ice arenas for skating and hockey, or to the apartment buildings where our families are trying to keep warm? That tells you everything.
"And yet we continue. We try to maintain a sufficient level of resources for our athletes' training camps, for their participation in international competitions, and for organising national competitions. We keep the process going."
How demanding is it for Ukrainian athletes to prepare for competitions when many are training without proper facilities, without their clubs, sometimes without a home?
"This is our reality. It is our everyday routine. We even joke about it amongst ourselves, though we are all burning out. The average Ukrainian gets perhaps four to six hours of sleep a night, because sirens go off, drone attacks happen, we have to go to bomb shelters and listen to explosions.
"It is very difficult to stay focused. It is very difficult to think about sports preparation. But this is our reality, and we continue to operate. We continue to fight."
Which countries are helping Ukraine the most in terms of organising sporting life? Are there any examples of cooperation you would like to highlight?
"We have very productive connections with American organisations that help us set up veterans' clubs and multi-sport clubs for children - both materially and financially, and also in terms of methodology, providing training for our coaches and specialists. That cooperation has been very good.
"Many countries have helped: France, the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland - and I am sure I am forgetting some, and I would not want to leave anyone out unfairly. I know, for instance, that Shakhtar Donetsk's youth players spent time in Prague. A lot of countries are helping, and we are grateful."
Sport has always been a powerful tool of soft power. Do you actively use Ukrainian athletes and their stories to promote Ukraine's cause internationally?
"Yes. Our athletes are our best ambassadors. Statements and actions from people like Oleksandr Usyk or Elina Svitolina are the best showcases for Ukraine - the best examples of how Ukrainian athletes, as part of Ukrainian society, can communicate to the world all the difficulties connected with their preparation and their lives."
Has there been a moment during the war when sport personally moved you - a result, a gesture, or a story that reminded you why this work matters?
"For me personally, as a former athlete, sport is the one tool I have to keep my mental health - and therefore my productivity - at a normal level. As for our athletes as a whole, the 2024 Paris Olympics were perhaps the brightest moment of this war for our nation. Those results encouraged the whole country.
"But beyond the elite level, grassroots sport is the foundation of our nation, for our youth, for our children. It is the first place young Ukrainians encounter teamwork, their first authority figure outside the family - the coach. It is the first experience of setting goals and achieving them. That makes it extraordinarily important."
Finally, what message do you have for sport fans around the world who are following this conflict from a distance and are rooting for Ukraine?
"My message is: keep supporting Ukraine. We deeply appreciate your attitude, your support, your understanding.
"I remember a meeting with the German minister responsible for sport before Euro 2024. They were so excited about what was coming. And I told him about my own emotions before Euro 2012, which was co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland - how full of bright expectations for the future we all were back then.
"But war is closer than it seems. We never imagined - not even for a moment - that one day we would wake up to the sound of explosions, grab our children, and run to a bomb shelter. It seemed like something from a movie. Nonsense. And yet here we are.
"Ukraine is only a few hours' flight from you. It is not far. Please understand us, support us, and continue to support us."