The Russian-Ukrainian team "Team Spirit" won the final of the twelfth international "Dota 2" tournament — "The International". "Team Spirit" beat European "Gaimin Gladiators" 3-0 on cards. This is the teamʼs second victory at this competition: they won for the first time in 2021.
eSportsmen from the USA, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands played for the "Gladiators" team, and Russian Anton Shkredov also played in the "Gladiators" finals.
20-year-old Ilya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk, who is from Bucha, and 23-year-old Myroslav "Mira" Kolpakov, who was born in Lutsk, played for "Team Spirit" in the final. There are also three Russians in the team: Magomed Khalilov, Denis Sigitov and Yaroslav Naydenov, and Russian coach Airat Gaziyev.
"Team Spirit" won $1.4 million.
In social networks, users criticize Ilya and Myroslav for not leaving the team even after a full-scale invasion. During the victory celebration, the boys hugged the Russians, for which they also received criticism.
"Yatoro" and "Mira" posted in support of Ukraine after February 24. For example, on March 4, 2022, "Yatoro" posted a Ukrainian flag on Instagram without any signature, or in November of last year he wrote in Russian on Telegram: "Kherson was released by the way" (now all photos, except for the photo from 2018, have been deleted from his account).
At the end of 2022, "Mira" said that he does not see the point in publicly talking about any help to Ukrainians and that he helps when they contact him on Instagram and after checking the information. "ʼTeam Spiritʼ does not limit me in any way in public manifestations," Myroslav noted.
- On March 24, 2022, "Team Spirit" informed that it was moving to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The organization abandoned plans to expand infrastructure in Moscow.