Kim Mulkey doesn’t remember when she sat down with Kate Koval this offseason, but she remembers where. It was in the parking lot of her 6-foot-5 center’s apartment complex.
Ordinarily, Mulkey wouldn’t talk to one of her players before she recruits another. But she thought that this situation required a little extra care — and perhaps a more intimate setting than the second-floor offices her program occupies in the athletics administration building.
“We just sat in the car,” Mulkey told The Advocate on Monday. “Kept the AC on.”
And then they talked. Mulkey wanted to discuss with Koval the fact that she had an opportunity to pursue a center named Anna Minaeva. She won’t turn 18 until January, but Minaeva already was playing professional hoops, and her film had intrigued both Mulkey and a few other power-conference coaches across the country.
Minaeva is 6-5 and skilled, with a soft touch and impressive vision. Mulkey thought she could, despite her age, make “an immediate impact” this season for her LSU team.
The problem is that Minaeva is from Russia and Koval is from Ukraine. At least a couple of handfuls of players from those two countries have moved to the U.S. to play Division I women’s college basketball since Russia first invaded its neighbor to the west in 2022, but it does not appear that any of them have played on the same team.
Koval and Minaeva — who was announced as LSU’s latest signee on Friday — are now the first, and Mulkey hopes the fact they are sharing a locker room turns into an uplifting story once the 2026-27 season tips off Nov. 2.
That’s part of the vision she laid out for Koval in the parked car.
“I want you to understand I’m not here to ask you to change how you feel about Russia,” Mulkey said, recalling her conversation with Koval. “I’m just here out of respect for your family and out of respect for you to let you know. Because I know how personal it is for you.
“Know that what I have to do in this business, I cannot make a decision to not recruit somebody that can help our program because of a conflict between two countries.”
Koval, a junior, was born and raised in Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv. Her father, Oleksandr, is fighting in the war. He’s a drone operator. The one time he could visit the U.S. last season to watch an LSU game, Koval said she was “grateful” he was there because she didn’t have to “worry for his life” — something she does “every single day” when he’s back home.
There’s reason for Koval to worry. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in January that his country has suffered more than 50,000 service member deaths as part of a war that, as of August, also has killed at least 16,000 Ukrainian civilians. According to UN data, the number of civilian casualties has increased every month in 2026.
Sometimes the war intersects with the sports world.
LSU forward Kate Koval (13) stands on the court before the first-round NCAA tournament game against Jacksonville on Friday, March 20, 2026 at the PMAC in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson
In June, a Ukrainian gymnast covered her eyes with her hands during a medal ceremony to protest an International Gymnastics Federation decision that allowed Russian athletes to compete under their country’s flag. The issue also surfaced this year at the French Open, where Ukrainian player Marta Kostyuk dedicated a quarterfinal win to her home country and called out her Russian opponents who had not spoken publicly about the war.
Minaeva first appeared on LSU’s radar two months before that event began, when Mulkey hired former Miami assistant Fitzroy Anthony to fill a vacancy on her staff. Mulkey said Anthony deserves “all the credit” for landing the two international players the Tigers signed this offseason: Minaeva and Spanish forward Noa Morro.
Anthony told The Advocate he was already recruiting Morro to Miami before he accepted the job at LSU. He discovered Minaeva, he said, through an overseas contact who reached out to say they knew of a player who “would be a great fit” at LSU. Once Anthony received Minaeva’s film, he passed it along to Mulkey, associate head coach Bob Starkey and the rest of the staff.
“Bob was like, ‘Wow, this kid’s special,’ ” Anthony said. “They think she actually has the ability to be a (WNBA) draft pick.”
So Starkey and Mulkey each sat down with Koval, then started recruiting Minaeva. Because she and Morro are on board — along with Koval and 6-2 forward Grace Knox — 6-foot sophomore ZaKiyah Johnson can spend more time on the perimeter than she did last season, when the Tigers stationed her primarily in the post.
The group offers a nice blend of size and versatility. Knox is long and athletic. Morro is 6-3, and she can shoot 3-pointers.
There may come a time when Mulkey puts Koval and Minaeva on the floor at the same time, and if she does, she said she wants them to “pass the ball to each other.”
“I love Kate,” Mulkey said. “I love her family, and I wanted them to know. I wanted her to know.
“You want her to feel your compassion, and yet you don’t ask her to change her feelings. Her feelings are what they are. You just want her to know and be informed. That’s all.”
In the car, Mulkey said she thinks Koval and Minaeva can be “ambassadors” for kinship amid international conflict. Maybe the two LSU post players could even help end the war.
“ ‘You never know,’ ” Mulkey recalled telling Koval. “And she just kind of smiled and said, ‘I doubt that.’ ”
