Oleksandr Shovkovsky, assistant coach of the Ukrainian national team, said on Footballhub that Russia is waging a war to destroy the Ukrainian nation.
“Everyone must do everything possible for our victory in their place. Do everything so that the whole world knows what is happening here and what we Ukrainians have to face.
About what is happening here, about how Russia is destroying our people. They kill, torture, mock, as they destroy our cities. With what we are now fighting in the 21st century.
Ukraine is now a shield in front of the whole of Europe. Everyone should understand this and should not stand aside.
On February 24, a single person from Russia called me, I could not pick up the phone, he wrote a message saying that he was very ashamed, did not know what to say, did not fully support what was happening. But I didn't have the strength to answer.
I can't say what they feel (former Russian Dynamo partners - approx.). I am not in their place, but I can say that in the early 90s, when Ukraine separated from the USSR, we were very similar, but over these 30 years the gap between us has grown, very large.
And even in my thoughts I cannot imagine what must happen for any improvement in relations between our peoples to take place.
Their so-called special operation is nothing but a full-fledged war against Ukraine, the destruction of the entire nation of Ukraine.
Perhaps the awareness in the world needs to be as high as possible. So that everyone knows what is happening here, what we are fighting. And that we stand as a single shield before the whole world, before Europe in the first place.
What is happening in Ukraine may happen tomorrow in other countries.
It is very important that the championship has begun, if we missed this year, then, perhaps, we should have said goodbye to football altogether. Restoring it would be very difficult. Yes, the level will become lower, but this is such an intermediate stage that we all need to go through.
For me, life was divided before the war and after, no matter how annoying, catastrophic, painful it sounds, ”Shovkovsky said.