LSU center Kate Koval, who is from Ukraine, said on Wednesday her decision to leave the program is based on the Tigers recruiting a Russian player at her position. Last week, coach Kim Mulkey said the 6-foot-5 center was leaving for “personal decisions” but alluded to the signing of Anna Minaeva, who has played for a pro club in Moscow.Koval’s father serves in the Ukrainian military, which has been at war since Russia’s 2022 invasion.Mulkey’s decision to sign Minaeva and timing in informing Koval “ultimately made me question whether LSU remained the right place for me,” Koval said in a social media post on Wednesday. She said she was informed “several days” after the transfer portal window closed on April 20.“For me, this war is not distant or abstract,” Koval’s social media statement read. “People close to me have been killed and wounded in Russian attacks, and places where I grew up and first began playing basketball have been destroyed by missile strikes.”Midyear NCAA transfers are not eligible to compete immediately at another school if they have been enrolled at an NCAA school during the first academic term, even if they didn’t compete at their original school in that window. LSU’s 2026-27 academic year began on Aug. 24, so Koval would need NCAA approval to become eligible immediately elsewhere.