A Fitter from Belarus Became "Lenin" and Built a Career in Esports in Ukraine
A guy from Kamenets was preparing to start work at the Brest depot when fate took a different turn.
Photo: hero's archive
An unexpected twist: a Belarusian who studied to be a fitter and planned to become a train driver ended up as one of the top esports commentators in Ukraine, and in Ukrainian. Moreover, in a country that has long been undergoing decommunization, the guy became known by the nickname "Lenin," Tribuna reports.
Konstantin Sivko was born on August 17, 1994. He grew up in Kamenets – a small town near Brest. He wasn't particularly interested in sports or computer games, nor was he very keen on studying – his average grade was around five (out of ten). From the age of 13, the guy decided he would become a train driver. For this, he moved from his hometown, where he worked part-time as a seller, to Brest, where he entered the local railway transport lyceum. However, due to poor grades, he was only accepted for an electrician position, but Sivko wasn't disheartened – he planned to retrain later.
At the lyceum, the guy became fond of the shooter game Warface – and because he "always loved to talk," he decided to commentate on his friends' matches, uploading recordings to YouTube. In 2013, an esports TV channel was planned to open in Minsk, and they announced a call for commentators. Sivko immediately sent his resume with links to videos. However, he didn't receive a reply for a long time, and meanwhile, he managed to graduate from the lyceum and was preparing to start work in his specialty at the Brest depot with a salary of about $220. But that never happened.
"One day I got a call from Minsk, saying they were ready to offer me a commentator position, a stable salary, and rented accommodation. I just screamed with joy. I knew it was an opportunity worth seizing with both hands," recalled Sivko, who later admitted that he was initially paid $400 a month.
Photo: Konstantin Sivko's Instagram account
Sivko was given work on the shooters Counter-Strike and Point Blank, about which he knew practically nothing and was so confused at first that he "would have fired himself immediately." After three months, at his first major tournament, the massive negative reaction from viewers made Sivko realize he needed to improve. He started playing a lot himself, listening to other commentators, and reading to expand his vocabulary, "devouring more books than he had in his entire life before."
Gradually, the quality of his work improved significantly – so much so that he was noticed by the Ukrainian esports media channel StarLadder, which had a large audience. In January 2016, Sivko moved to Kyiv.
By that time, as is customary in esports, he was mainly called by his nickname, which was quite unusual for Ukraine with its decommunization. When he was choosing, he thought of his mother, Alena – and from that, he came up with the variant Leniniw. But, of course, Russian-speaking viewers quickly started calling him simply "Lenin."
This did not hinder his career at all. In 2020, Sivko moved to another Ukrainian studio, Maincast, which he considered the best. "We then commented in Russian and worked for the Russian market – and the Russians couldn't handle the competition," said the Belarusian, who in 2020 and 2021 was recognized as the best CS:GO commentator "in the Russian-speaking environment" by the Russian portal sports.ru. Sivko also mentioned that one of his broadcasts was watched by 380 thousand people online simultaneously.
On February 24, 2022, Russia began its war in Ukraine using the territory of Belarus. The guy spent the first couple of weeks in Kyiv, and then "had to go to Poland to comment on tournaments." The commentator later said that an inner voice told him to stay in Ukraine, but he didn't listen and later regretted it – he was no longer allowed back across the border.
As a result, he stayed to live in Poland, because in that country there is a clear path to permanent residency – in Ukraine, only temporary one-year permits were issued. In 2025, Sivko did visit Kyiv, but only as a guest. He would like to return permanently, but it is "very difficult from a legalization standpoint."
Soon after the start of the war, "Lenin" appealed to the Wikipedia portal for Counter-Strike with a request to remove the country indication. "It's obvious that Belarus, as of today, unfortunately, is a co-aggressor country. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, I support Ukraine and do everything in my power for Ukraine to win. This is very important to me. And the decision regarding the flag was made precisely because I believed it was right," Sivko explained.
Photo: Konstantin Sivko's Instagram account
He learned Ukrainian for work. In the spring of 2023, Maincast renounced its Russian-language rights, and Sivko faced a choice: either go work for Russian companies to continue commenting in Russian, or stay and somehow comment in Ukrainian. And here the guy "made his choice in favor of Ukraine" – he started studying the language. In July 2023, he commented on his first tournament in Ukrainian, and although the quality "was questionable," the audience supported him and pointed out mistakes. As a result, now, according to reports, it is practically impossible to tell by ear that Ukrainian is not his native language.
In addition, Sivko hosts streams on the Twitch platform, where he is also known as "Leniniw". When the guy switched to Ukrainian there too, "the question arose about changing the nickname." But during the audience poll, "people replied that nothing needed to be changed," and everything remained as it was. On streams, the commentator sometimes collects money – he says donations are small, but everything he receives, he transfers to the needs of the Ukrainian army.
Sivko continues to commentate on the biggest tournaments – for example, he recently worked in Hungary at the StarLadder Budapest 2025 Counter-Strike 2 tournament with a prize pool of $1.25 million. "Lenin's" income also satisfies him.
"I was shocked by how little [Ukrainian] sports commentators earn. A top-level commentator working on, say, a Champions League final, has a mediocre salary. I cannot complain about mine," says Sivko, who wants to do this work for the rest of his life.
"Lenin" is not in a hurry to return to his homeland, "even if it transforms into an independent democratic European state." "I will need to think about what benefits it will give me, besides the fact that I was born and grew up there. If there is room for development and I see prospects, then, perhaps, I will return," says Sivko.
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