Maurice Creek, a Maryland native playing basketball in Ukraine, has crossed the border into safety after being stuck in the country amid Russia’s invasion, WJLA reports.
Creek crossed the border into Moldova and tweeted, “Took me 12 hours but finally out of Ukraine. Next stop, back to Romania.”
Since 2019, the George Washington University graduate has played professional basketball in Ukraine, according to WJLA.
“Every day, I’m on the phone with my agent, trying to get out of here as soon as possible,” Creek told Fox News. “Hopefully, I can get to one of these borders and get out of here.”
He was stuck in the city of Mykolaiv, in the southern area of the country, and was previously playing for the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague.
“I’ve been going back and forth between my apartment and the bomb shelter that they put me in to be safe because the war is going on around our area,” the 31-year-old, 6-foot-5 guard said, The Washington Post reports. “So we just have to be as safe as possible, keep our heads held low.”
as Blavity previously reported, Creek said he was the last American left on the league’s teams and blamed his team, MBC Mykolaiv, for prohibiting him from leaving the impending war zone.
The ball player said Russian forces moved in Thursday and “there was no plan” to help him leave Ukraine, according to the Post.
Creek also added that he thought the U.S. Embassy would intervene and “scoop me up and get me up out of here.”
Creek is set to fly back to the U.S. on Thursday, according to ABC 7’s Scott Abraham.
