As The Pokeball Turns

TRAINER'S EYE #153 - "Pokemon GO in Ukraine" ft. Pokemon Go LVIV

• David Hernandez • Season 1 • Episode 158

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When the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Pokémon GO could have easily been forgotten. Instead, it became something more. It became a lifeline of hope and community for Pokemon Trainers living in Ukraine.

In this episode of As The Pokeball Turns, we meet the Community Ambassadors of Pokémon GO Ukraine as they share how they rebuilt their shattered local communities, found moments of peace during wartime, and used Pokémon GO as a way to support each other through unimaginable challenges. From organizing safe meetups during curfew to fundraising for frontline soldiers, their story shows the true power of Pokemon, friendship, and hope.

Listen now to hear how Pokémon GO continues to make an impact far beyond catching Pokémon.

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Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

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Pokemon GO Ukraine:

We are the community ambassadors in Ukraine,

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

and here is our story.

David Hernandez:

Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where we interview people's experience about Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez. I'm joined by the community ambassadors from Ukraine here to share their experience with Pokemon. How they built their Pokemon Good community and how Pokemon's kind of helping them with what's going on in the world. I'm excited to dive into this episode. Welcome to the episodes both of y'all.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Thank you for inviting us.

David Hernandez:

And first off, thank You'all for being the community ambassadors. I know it's not an easy job. and I can't imagine like how difficult it is to do it this time. But I want to ask like, when did y'all start playing Pokemon? Go. Let's start there.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Okay. my story, could be like a bit long. Maybe, maybe we should start like with Nikita and, uh, go from there.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

So. Story can be long too. as many of, uh, as many, uh, like Pokemon Gold players, I started playing in 2016. I dunno about you guys, but the first week of, the game. and Ole we can talk about, game in Ukraine. It'll be similar to other worldwide communities before, I don't know, maybe before covid times. And maybe in Covid times, like in any other country, we had pandemic issues and we were sitting at homes and maybe we can talk about something that it is in Ukraine that no other country Like, Ole, do you remember February, 2022 and

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Yeah. Yeah, I, I remember, um, the.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

the third day of the full scale invasion and rocket heating residential house in here in Tiv and Tanks, uh, storming iv. everyone in the world were catching Corsola, Heracross and we were sitting at homes in panic and fear and like you had no, time even to open Pokemon Go. Just scroll and doom, scroll and use it

David Hernandez:

Yeah.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

a really, really crazy time.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

I had

David Hernandez:

Yeah. I.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

for, uh, and,

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

too.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

didn't know what to do with it. But, I should say like, good thing about, Niantic because, as Nikita said. Full invasion in Ukraine started like several days before this Johto a lot of trainers have bought tickets for, uh. This event. And

David Hernandez:

And when the.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Niantic actually refunded all of these tickets, to Ukrainians. we were very appreciated for it. And they also shown, us that, Niantic know about us. Like despite the fact like, the game is not released here officially. They know

David Hernandez:

They know.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Ukrainian, Player base. they know we are like buying, buying stuff, they know our political, let's say, situation, our issues. They can, uh, refund, tickets, uh, before, like they actually know that we, can't, play, play this event. And, I still remember this. And, uh, it shows, us that, Niantic supports us.

David Hernandez:

It's gotta be kind of, I guess, startling because for me, I remember Johto Tour. It was a time when I met with my friends here in the States where we just went and traded like another day. But for y'all, y'all remember it so differently'cause it's the time where. Y'all gotta deal with Russia, invading Ukraine. How did y'all kind of, I guess, come to terms with playing Pokemon Go while also dealing with the conflict that's going on right now?

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Yeah,

David Hernandez:

Yeah.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

was the time when I, uh, moved from Kyiv. I'm not originally like from IV and, uh, not originally from Kyiv. I am, from the south of Ukraine.

David Hernandez:

Mm-hmm.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

hometown is, uh, now occupied by, Russians. But when the war started, like I was, living in Kyiv. Have a study there. I was a part like of Kyiv community. we had like no ambassadors for, that time. and I'm not sure if we, did know like, each other with Nikita. but, I think we like, the same events.

David Hernandez:

but.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

don't think we knew each other like personally. And that wa that was the time, when I moved to Liv. Liv is a small, uh, geographic lesson. it's on the west of Ukraine. like considerate, relatively safe, place.'cause it's like far from the eastern border. It's, Like very close to the Poland, like European, union border. It's like 100 kilometers from here. So it's, uh, considered relatively safe and, that's why we can like, play here with live almost, how it gets like, normal, lives and, be, thankful, for this, opportunity and, let's say privilege. Yeah. Yeah. So that was the time when I moved here and, started playing here and meeting Local players it became like, I guess we I guess will talk

David Hernandez:

we'll, we'll talk.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

it, transformed into me being, here,

David Hernandez:

Mm-hmm.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

when I am even originally from, from w.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

If I can add a little, Pokemon

David Hernandez:

By all means, go for it. Yeah.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

helps us to forget a little, a little, a little about, everything that we read in youth, like in the first month of, invasion, you couldn't, think about anything else. Our first Community day, it was Sand slash Community Day in March, and it was first, sun Days, uh, warm days. And me with my girlfriend, time, walked into a nearby park. We saw like two or three other people, no, not PokemonGo players. And uh, it was our maybe first, uh. Time when we tried to forget for an hour about the war and, just played and it was different,

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Yeah, I see,

David Hernandez:

I see. I.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

the same like, with our, players in IV when they attend events, it's like, Some kind of, relief. Like it's an opportunity to spend several hours, like normally play a game like, let's say real law at rest. have a coffee together, with, uh, community, discuss the news maybe. And, it's not always about the game. it's more about, uh, the community and, having time together

David Hernandez:

When it comes to just playing Pokemon Go and you're setting up the events, what made y'all wanna become community ambassadors and how has that role changed with what's going on now to back when y'all first started?

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

Like, Ole said he moved from Kyiv at the beginning of the full scale invasion, but he was not alone. A lot of people from east of Ukraine and from Kyiv moved to the West and from Ukraine, immigrated to Europe or us. We lost a lot of people and our communities were shattered basically. for maybe one and a half years, community war we had no, like big central community, I dunno. But in the beginning, at the beginning of 2024. started to see many faces in our telegram group were asking like, where to go to play Pokemon, go in Kyiv, do you rate, where do you spend community days? And I started to think like, Hmm, maybe I can, gather these people in one park to help them to rate, to catch some new Pokemon We began creating our community from scratch. but then I saw news about ambassador program and I thought, let's try,

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Yeah, my, path, started even earlier because when I moved here to leave, first time, I wasn't interested in playing. I had like other issues like, to leave, job, like a lot of other issues. My family My family was like on occupied of, at the at the time uh, uh, a lot of other priorities, uh, I guess except the game and a

David Hernandez:

and

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

who had like, uh, the same situation. and several. when everything was established, job was okay. I. My family was safe. I decided to uh, like, uh, what we have in here, like in w what is the player base and stuff. at that time there like, uh. There are like several, several chats. Several chats, but were not very active. Like as I said, people have different priorities, like different issues. And, player base wasn't very active. at the time I, uh, met several players. from became like, core players of our community during e now, they, they are the core players. And we started like, gathering for radars and read events. I remember, some kind of literate, in 2022. Maybe Hoopa. Hoopa. That was Yeah. uh, our Yeah. like, let's say huge, whi quotes, gatherings. we had like seven, maybe eight people. That was like huge gathering in ViiV at the time. And then we started like consistently doing rate hours and the different, rate events for, for some reason, reason. our community. Uh. Always bothered like about race, like community days. We are not really community days, uh, uh, raid events. Uh, uh, I, me like to, to gather, uh, like for raid events. and we did it consistently, let's say for a, for a year, then Then I. the community ambassador program I looked through the description for, through the requirements, and, I said, oh, we already doing this. Let's, let's apply. it didn't even change anything like in our events. playing, hosting, like remains the same. but we started to took photos because like, for application. you need like several photos of events. you have hosted, there are requirements. Like you, you should have like 10 people. for that event. And, honestly, I didn't expect like from those, that application because at that time, game wasn't released, officially. Like we didn't, have any ambassadors and, I had no, expectation from it because. Come on, would they, uh, uh, accept, uh, a community ambassador in the country? They didn't even have officially released game, but it happened. How it happened for some reason, uh, me and Nikita accepted. and then, then. uh, we have three for now, ambassador in Ukraine. Right?

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

Yes, yes.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

and we have, uh, several communities in different cities, who also on top apply. I try to, to help them, to go through the process. So waiting like for our communities to grow

David Hernandez:

It's interesting'cause you've mentioned how you can officially get Pokemon Go in Ukraine. I remember, I think Pokemon Go ceased, support in Russia. Did that also co, I know that covered also part of Ukraine, right? Is that kinda what you're alluding to or? I guess, can you gimme some insight on what you're talking about when you can't physically get Pokemon going in the area you got?

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

No, no, no.

David Hernandez:

Yes.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

in Ukraine, in Ukraine, in any city, you can play Pokemon. Go catch Pokemon, look for pocket stops. Even in those cities that currently under occupation,

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

yeah. you can download the game from Ukrainian App Store, app store and uh,

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

You

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Play.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

in our, uh,

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Yeah,

David Hernandez:

Yeah, so

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

are problems with downloading the game and, don donating like, uh, making payments inside the game. but it works when you download it.

David Hernandez:

It is gotta feel weird starting a community Pokemon Go no less. During wartime, what kind of reaction did you get from people trying to do this? Like were people for it against it, indifferent.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

I can't say they. against it because, this, community and this gatherings, are needed for a lot of people. For example, here in Liv, because as I said, can be called like a relatively safe, city. There are many refugees and people who moved here, like people who moved here from other cities as I did. And, those people, maybe don't have like a lot of connections here. maybe don't have like enough, social let's say, except their jobs and something. Joining any kind of community, even if it's, Pokemon Go community, it's, an opportunity for them, like to communicate, to socialize. It's not, not even about the game. It's, about, having a community where you can. Go, like every Wednesday you can join an event. You, you can grab a coffee, like with those people, discuss something. it became, a tight circle of close people which can go to the bar together. they can travel together with some. We had, several, trips it became, a community of people. I can invite them for my birthday, we can go to the bar sometimes after events. We have some kind of after party when we can go somewhere. Even like, without the game. Yeah. So, I, think it has, positive reaction. And, for those people who decided not to play during the war, there are a lot of them because like people have, their spouse, personal issues and game like is not a priority. They just don't play. And, uh, that's it. And, it could happen that they return and they always know where to go because, we have those, events. eventually people People come back and. didn't play, since the beginning of the war. now I decided like I want to join.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

Interesting enough that, we are something different from iv. We don't like, raiding too much. mostly gather on community days or Saturday or Sunday, meetings. almost every time I see face, like some someone, uh. Just started playing. Like a goes on our meeting and, Someone like, Having time to play Pokemon Go And, next day they are, going to the front lines. our community is not like, close circle of friends. We have, many people, like someone we know closer, some, someone is like first time. almost everyone said that, community ambassador program is a big deal for Kyiv because if there were no ambassador program, wouldn't know that by anyone in Kyiv place. They would have no motivation to go on rate days or community days. And I can say maybe 75% of our players that go to our meetings joined us just because of ambassador problem.

David Hernandez:

I want to ask, Nikita, from what your, a colleague here said, he says that you're very big into the PVP side of things.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

Yeah.

David Hernandez:

What do you enjoy about PVP and how is the PVP seen over in Ukraine?

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

Okay, let's dive in some history. we started our, PVP tradition, in 2019, when PVP was introduced in Pokemon Go and, Silph Arena website was created. began our tournaments every month. Our first tournament had maybe 10 people playing and I won the tournament. Um, yes. Yes. and, uh, we had every month, one and maybe two tournaments, and our biggest tournament was, February, 2020, weeks before shutdown, and we had 50 players. Six winners of the tournament, five of them, for them. It was very first victory in, PVP tournament. So our community was growing like, crazy. But after pandemics, had no life in person tournament. We had some online tournaments, but, playing in person is, not like playing online. But after shutdown downs, we had our first tournament, the tournament on January, 2022. We had 30 people. Some, players from other cities came to our tournament. And it was very fun tournament and we wanted to start a new tradition and play every month from that. But we had full scale invasion and from that our, PVP, uh, in-person tournaments stopped for a bit. But, For me, the most interesting thing is not to win. I won a lot of tournaments. I was talked to players in Ukraine for years. Me and the other guy were like, messy and Christian Ronaldo in football, if you know, uh, what I'm, what I'm talking about. Um,

David Hernandez:

I know what you're talking about.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

excellent, excellent.

David Hernandez:

Yeah.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

Yes, and we were, uh, winning, uh, me winning half of tournaments and he winning another half. But it was not that I wanted to bring, for me, the most interesting thing was to teach other players how to play some techniques, some tricks, some uh, little PVP magic. And I was, and I'm still the only one. Content creator Pokemon Go, Ukrainian speaking content creator. When I talk about PVP, about DP Pokemon, some players were saying that, this really changed their, skill. Uh. Especially when they were playing against me for the first time and I was catching their charged moves and they were react like, what, what are you doing? How, how? And I, after the game can talk with them. Like saying, you know, I, not just tapping, I am counting something while tapping. Whoa. It blows their mind.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Yeah, it,

David Hernandez:

Yeah.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

blow my, my mind when I watched one of your videos. Yeah, I, I will, I was also, uh, them.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

We had, Ukrainian based, faction. and we called it, uh, power of Borsch. You know, Borsch is truly Ukrainian dish and every other opponent, when saw our naming said wa, it's is the, the best name of the team that we can imagine power of Bosch. And we played really good. uh, gathered. Every top Ukrainian player. But, after full scale invasion, some of them stopped playing and after Silph shut down, more stopped playing. But, we continued playing with our Faction and, our Faction was disbanded, because we had, Some problems in Ukraine, with, electricity, after bombing we had no electricity, no internet connection, and it was tough to play a lot PVP, especially when you have to with someone from other countries. I can say right now from seven top players, maybe three or four of them are active players. If we talk about, online tournaments right now, it's not our main focus. my main focus right now is our, ambassador events, and a lot of people that I saw for the first time, and most of them are casual players, you want to play PVP competitively. have to spend a lot of time just in one or two hours, maybe a day playing, go back leagues, studying, watching something, thinking. it's really almost like a professional sport.

David Hernandez:

I wanna switch gears and I wanna come back to the community ambassador in Pokemon Go and Ukraine in a little bit. What is each of y'all's favorite Pokemon?

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

Favorite Pokemon. My favorite Pokemon is Lucario. for me, best fighting and I love fighting PVP some challenge. And for me, is my, uh, number one Pokemon.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

How, how it is ranked in PPI, I'm sure like, uh, Pokemon should be very useful in.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

you trust in your favorite Pokemon, it is number one for you.

David Hernandez:

Oh, the heat is a fire. I love it.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

It's not the matter of its size and with the species, it's a matter of how you use it, right?

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

Yes. Yes. In.

David Hernandez:

There's a lead four member who says A battle with your favorite, so that's what he's leaning against right now.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

We have our one PVP player, uh, that said that there are no bad Pokemon, there are bad trainers.

David Hernandez:

what about you? Um, uh, O'Hare,

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Honestly, it's not about favorite Pokemon anymore for me, I liked, uh, I, I always liked always like, type Pokemon, mm-hmm. Hmm. starter Pokemon, like I liked wool bazo. I liked gr, I liked. almost all grass starters, but honestly, I can choose one because this game is not about favorite Pokemon, uh, for me anymore. And, not even about goals, goals, or challenges. It's about It's about the community, organizing events, host events, About, helping other communities to grow and, building building something like, how to. I would I would like to, beco become a platform to do something good, good things. mean, I mean, we uh, sometimes do giveaways of, uh, different prize, prices things, and, gather some some money for charity. For the Army or for humanitarian aid or like that. I think, I think if we have, have privilege, like to live live normal during these, hard times have ability to play, and do something good, we, we should do it. for example, as Nikita said, we said the same situation. One of situation, one of our members Army now. And we and to. him. for example, one of our giveaways, let's say, we were, gathering money for him. Because, uh, they had, uh, some issues with their, uh, car, which was blown somewhere near the front. uh, we uh, because of the, it was like more than we expected with some. Like not very prices. some of them were handmade. We have one girl in our community who, who does like handmade, toys, I I, our community to become, become a platform to do similar or even better things. So hello. about, my favorite Pokemon is

David Hernandez:

I think that's such a very good message to send because it's so easy for us who do have privilege, whether we're in peace times, whether maybe we have more money or whatever it looks like for us to kind of just surround ourselves and pretend that problems don't exist. But the fact that, you know, you recognize that yes, you know you are in war times, but you recognize that you're in a peaceful area. That you want to give back to the areas that are both war stricken as well as who are fighting for y'all. I think it's a very noble cause and I applaud you for trying to build something beyond just Pokemon and go the game, but into something that is real and tangible. I,

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Yeah, and I was talking about, goals. I, gauged catch my desktop, a lot of a lot of times. these events and Mm-hmm. Uh, I I. sacrifice something. for example, when it's, Big event happening, like, GOFest, tour, uh, to have to simplify of, some of gaming experience sometimes, for organization. somebody is late like messaging me and instead of playing this beautiful event, I should answer them like playing the route and, and stuff. And, this is maybe a message for people who want to become, a community ambassador that it's. Not Not always about. like hardcore or player. It's It's uh, about about something for the community. because, during these big big. I rarely like, play as, as much as I want. and instead of this, I am like doing organization stuff.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

I agree. the main goal. being community ambassador is not for your personal gain. It's not beating your, heart. Like saying, I am the ambassador. I am, the leader. Follow me. No, no, no. It's about helping other people. You are employee for them. You do what they need and not for your game. Like for the people, for the community.

David Hernandez:

Spoken like true ambassadors And you know, I hope y'all two continue to do what y'all are doing with Pokemon and go, you know, the fact that y'all are here this far is testament to how strong they are as Ukrainians as a nation. having y'all play a role as Pokemon Go Community ambassadors so important, especially during times like these. And I applaud y'all for all the work y'all have done. I appreciate y'all even giving us insight into what it's like to play over there.'cause I think a lot of people we don't know.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

We are playing Pokemon Go like you are in Texas, but

David Hernandez:

I know, but people you think people know. You think people know this over here. Okay.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

But one, one thing, we can't play Pokemon at night. We have curfew and we

David Hernandez:

Mm-hmm.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

on the streets playing Pokemon in 2:00 AM This is the one difference. All right.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

the second one is that you can download from the app store, right? Because, because, uh, like, I like to joke that, like they have a campfire, right? Campfire

David Hernandez:

Sure.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

is needed. Like, uh, they, um. The,

David Hernandez:

The, uh, marketing, like,

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

app for finding a community to find a community in Ukraine is, uh, easier than find the campfire in Ukraine because it's also not available like in, in the app store.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

know,

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Uh.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

I have few players that, uh, find our community in campfire. They downloaded campfire, opened map, and saw we have a meeting and came to our meeting. I have some players.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

we, we also had them, but uh, usually, uh, those people download it, it abroad

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

Mm-hmm.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

in Poland or, uh, in Europe. They played like there then, uh, came back to Ukrainian Ukraine and, uh, let's see what we have on Kim file and found our, our

David Hernandez:

Um, look, I love this interview. This is the most illegal legal shit I've ever heard. I love it. That have made the links y'all are going to, to play Pokemon Go. I'm, this is not an insult, by the way. This, I love this, so,

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

I'm, I'm not talking about, I mean, people are traveling

David Hernandez:

oh, I know, I know it, it sounds illegal, but it's legal. That's what I meant. Like it comes across as like they're doing something shady. But no, y'all actually doing stuff that you can actually do.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Yeah. we sometimes have troubles like, how to download Campfire and, people like, say I can't do it. It's too tricky. I said, how, how you downloaded this game? Uh, I just was in Poland and I downloaded it and I play it,

David Hernandez:

Yes.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

I, I don't know how to do it again. Yeah. So. wish, I wish we have, we, we will have like, uh, the game release they can file released because it, will make, everything like much more, easier. also want like, to have, would be nice to have Ukrainian, like, uh, in game. I mean, we can play in English. That is what

David Hernandez:

mm-hmm.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

but I would love to, to play in my native language, and, regional prices are also a, a thing like other countries have, like, India, Turkey, whatever, like they have like prices, much slower, because, uh,$1 in, uh, United States, it's, not the same$1 in Ukraine. I guess our minimal salary is, Less than$200. It's hard to, be, how to say, not free to play player, uh, this crisis. So So guess I'm not guess I'm, I, I'm, I'm sure, uh, a lot of, uh, people are ready to, to pay, to donate, to buy those tickets, pocket coins, if you will have regional prices. if they,higher than other countries like India, Turkey, already just, gives them ability.

Pokemon GO Ukraine - Nikita:

Just wanted to say thank you for everyone who is still thinking about Ukraine, about our people and who supports us, until this day, and I think we'll support us for to come. Big thank you for all.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

Yeah,

David Hernandez:

right. Yeah.

Pokemon GO Ukraine:

who listened to this moment and, managed to understand us because I understand how our English is not, is not very good as, and as I joked with David, already, uh, the Ukrainians like to, to, uh, speak in English even if we don't know English. Very good.

David Hernandez:

And just to let y'all know, I offered them a Ukrainian translator. They said no. Okay. So don't be going like, David. Why don't you offer a translator at the other guy? No, I offered him translator. He declined it. Okay.

People on this episode

Head Shot

David Hernandez

Host
Head Shot

Dux

Co-host
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Layla

Co-host