Foreign players of Shakhtar Donetsk, Dynamo Kyiv leave Ukraine

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) – Foreign players of Ukrainian football clubs Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv have left Ukraine, fleeing the war with Russia.

In a statement on Monday, Shakhtar Donetsk said the Miners' Brazilian footballers and their families, and Dynamo Kyiv internationals arrived in Romania.

"The evacuation of the players was made possible thanks to the personal assistance of UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, Ukrainian Football Association President Andrii Pavelko, and Moldovan Football Federation President Leonid Oleinichenko," Shakhtar Donetsk said.

Last week Ukraine suspended its top-tier football league after the declaration of a martial law over the war with Russia.

Shakhtar Donetsk is a club from Ukraine's east but the 2014 Russia-Ukraine crisis forced them leave their hometown in Donbas region.

First moving to Lviv in western Ukraine for security reasons, the club then relocated further east to Kharkiv to be closer to their fans in Donetsk.

In 2020, Shakhtar Donetsk preferred to play their home matches at Kyiv's NSC Olimpiyskiy over the same concern.

NSC Olimpiyskiy has been the home of Dynamo Kyiv for over a decade.

Since Russia's war on Ukraine began last Thursday – including Russian troops coming across the border from neighboring Belarus – it has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK, and US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Russia.

So far, at least 136 civilians, including 13 children, have been killed, and 400 others, including 26 children, were injured in Ukraine, according to UN figures.

Around 660,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the UN Refugee Agency said.