MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Ukrainian football player Denis Shelikhov fled Ukraine by swimming across the Tisza River to Belarus, where he signed a contract with local football club Slavia Mozyr, Ukrainian sports web portal Sport-Express reported on Wednesday.

The web portal stated, citing two unnamed sources, that Shelikhov, a former goalkeeper for Ukraine’s Under-21 national team, trained for two months in preparation for his river escape. The player refused to comment on this information to a correspondent from Ukraine’s Sport-Express.

Shelikhov, 35, inked a contract with Belarusian FC Slavia Mozyr on September 9 that will keep him with the club until the end of the season. He had been playing for Ukrainian FC Viktoria Sumy since 2023. The player also previously tended goal for Ukrainian FCs Dnepr, Volyn, Nikolayev, Metallist 1925, LNZ and Belarusian FCs Isloch and Luch.

The Tisza River is one of the largest rivers in Central and Eastern Europe and runs between Ukraine and Hungary.