PORTLAND, Maine — While the White House is urging all Americans to leave Ukraine, a former Edward Little and University of Maine basketball star is staying.
Troy Barnies is in his 11th year playing professional basketball, and is currently playing on a Ukrainian professional team.
Barnies, who said that he came close to leaving over the last weekend, admitted that he is nervous about the tension between Ukraine and Russia.
“Oh, I was ready to go,” Barnies said. “We have five foreigners on the team, and we were all ready to go, like look, I was packed.”
After meeting with team officials on Monday Barnies had a change of heart.
“It was a hard decision, but we decided for the team and for the situation to just stay and see how it goes,” Barnies said.
If an invasion does unfold, Barnies has a plan to leave.
“I’m on the southwest side of Ukraine, so if anything were to happen, I wouldn’t be in the middle of it right from the beginning, so I would have time, if something happens, to leave,” Barnies said. “It would be by bus or by transport from my team to go west into Moldova or Romania.”
Barnies said that despite what Americans see on the news, the citizens of Ukraine aren’t too worried at the moment.
“To be honest, life here is normal,” Barnies said. “People are doing everything normal, so it kind of calmed me down.”