Recently, the fourth President of Croatia (2015-2020), Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, arrived in Ukraine on a friendly visit. The purpose of her visit is to support the Ukrainian people in the war against the bloody Russian aggressor. Grabar-Kitarović has repeatedly expressed her support for our country, and this time she decided to visit several Ukrainian cities.
Oleksandr Shovkovsky, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovych, and Hryhoriy Surkis. Photo: fcdynamo.comInterestingly, the famous guest of Ukraine is an avid football fan. She attended the matches of the Croatian national team at the last two World Cups, which ended with chequered medals, together with ordinary fans in the stands. And since 1981, Grabar-Kitarović has been a member of the Dinamo Zagreb fan club. As Kolinda herself noted, speaking to our team: "many of you were not yet born".
By the way, it was the match between the two Dynamos that sparked the former Croatian president's interest in our club. On 28 April last year, she attended a charity match for peace in Ukraine between our teams in Zagreb. There she met with Dynamo Kyiv President Ihor Surkis and the club's management.
Grabar-Kitarović liked our team and the atmosphere at the stadium very much, and upon her arrival in Ukraine, she could not ignore our club and visited the training base in Vita Litovska, where the white and blues are preparing for the game against Vorskla Poltava.
She started the conversation by asking about the health of Dynamo head coach Mircea Lucescu, who underwent surgery on Monday.
Later, Grabar-Kitarovic recalled her excellent relationship with three former players of both Dynamo teams - Ognjen Vukojevic, Domagoj Vida and Josip Pivaric - and when she saw a photo with the latter in the corridor of the base, she just couldn't help but take a shot with him. It should be noted that a full tour was organised for her.
Colinda was particularly impressed with the new white and blue gym, which was opened less than two months ago. Just when she arrived, the team was warming up there. And when she visited the club's arena, she noted that she would have loved to play football there, which she has loved to do since childhood. That's why, she said, she grew up more in the company of boys.
At the training field, Grabar-Kitarovych was met by representatives of the Kyiv coaching staff - Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, Emil Karas and Oleg Gusev. The first thing they did was to express their gratitude to her for supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia.
"We are all very pleased that you have paid so much attention to Ukraine, Kyiv and our team. And for the support of the Ukrainian people, we can say a huge THANK YOU! We are very pleased to see you at our base and would like to introduce you to our team," said Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, the acting head coach of the White and Blues, and invited the former Croatian president to the field, where he solemnly introduced her to the team and handed over a T-shirt with the president's name on it!
Honorary President of Dynamo and UEFA Vice President Hryhoriy Surkis came to the training field and presented Kolinda with a bouquet of 55 roses in honour of Grabar-Kitarovic's recent birthday, which she celebrated on 29 April (incidentally, Domagoj Vida celebrates his birthday on the same day), as well as a bag with our team's equipment. Colinda promised that after such a reception she would support Dynamo Kyiv even more and is waiting for our team to pay an honourable visit to Croatia.
"Thank you for your help in the fight against our common enemy. We are very pleased to welcome you to our base, thank you for taking an interest in our club. We hope that our common Victory will be achieved in the near future, including with the help of your country," said Grigory Surkis.
"It is a great honour for me to be here, visiting you. Dynamo Kyiv, like Dinamo Zagreb, is the football flagship of its country. And Ukraine has always been and is in my heart, especially now, in these difficult moments. I wish you and the entire Ukrainian people Victory and Peace!" said Grabar-Kitarović.
Later, Ms Kolinda presented the team with a souvenir that will go to the club's museum - a cap with the inscription "nema prodeje", which means "don't give up" in Croatian: "I want to give you this souvenir - it's a hat with the inscription 'don't give up', I wear the first copy myself, it's blue with a yellow inscription in honour of Ukraine, and I want to give you the second one!" - after these words, the whole team started applauding the Croatian ex-president.
