MY ACCOUNT
Ukraine star Oleksandr Zinchenko thanked well-wishers but revealed his personal trauma as he called for the war to stop amid ongoing conflict with Russia.
Russia began invading neighbouring Ukraine over a week ago after rising political tensions between the two countries.
The attacks were greeted by widespread condemnation, with sporting, political and financial sanctions imposed on Russia in an attempt to deter their efforts.
Russia have been banned from competing in the men’s 2022 World Cup and women’s European Championship, while St Petersburg was stripped of this season’s Champions League final.
In an act of solidarity, Zinchenko was named captain for Manchester City’s FA Cup tie at Peterborough on Tuesday and the left-back has thanked the world for showing support.
“I’m so grateful,” he told BBC Sport. “I’m so grateful to all these people for the support I’m getting here. I didn’t realise it’s going to be like that in this way. So I would like to say all of them big thanks. I appreciate it.
“I’m getting a lot of messages from a lot of guys in Ukraine and they are asking me about the videos of support [from the UK]. So people are watching TV, the people are still watching football, and they can see all these things, and I guess it helps a lot for them.”
Zinchenko’s torment continues around the clock, as he pointed to starvation in his homeland and the prospect of many having to live in bunkers, hoping to survive.
“I’m just crying,” he said. “So already a week, I’m not counting, but even I can drive the car from the training ground, or it doesn’t matter where, I can just cry from nothing.
“It’s everything in my head. Imagine the place where you was born, where you was growing up. And there is just empty ground.”
Zinchenko said he wanted to send a message that nobody should forget the plight of Ukrainians.
“We need to stop the war,” he added.
The 25-year-old explained his intention to inform the world of what is going on in his homeland.
“I spoke with many people who are on our side. And they said that the way Russian TV is showing us is ridiculous,” he said. “My mission is to show the rest of the world what’s going on in this moment.
“There are few cities in the lowest part of Ukraine where the civilians, Russian people, are coming, and they do fake protests that like ‘we want to be with Russia’ and stuff like that. I can show you one million pictures. I can show you one million videos, what they are doing now. I can show you every city in my country, which they destroyed.”
