Zorya's long-serving captain Nikita Kamenyuka shared his memories of the troubled spring of 2014 in Luhansk.
Nikita Kamenyuka- Nikita, remember how the separatist unrest started in Luhansk?
- As in almost every region of Ukraine at that time. Some people went to pro-Russian rallies, others to pro-Ukrainian ones. My team and I felt it when roadblocks started appearing in Luhansk. Our team were stopped and checked by armed men with machine guns.
- How did the checkpoints treat you?
- Basically, they recognised us. A man with a submachine gun would come in, see that a football team was on its way, and let us through. At that time, all buses and cars were stopped at the checkpoints. I remember when we were flying for the match with Shakhtar, they also checked us at the airport. That was the last game when "Zorya" got to the match from Lugansk by plane.
- Were you scared at that time? How did the players perceive the situation?
- Of course, it was exciting. When you see a man with a gun in a peaceful city not so long ago, it makes you uneasy.
- What was the scariest moment for you?
- A lot of those. I remember at the end of the season when the team was already separated, in the centre of Lugansk a plane flew over and shot at the administration building, a lot of people were killed on the square. When you see that, it's scary. It is scary when your hometown is under fire and your relatives are sitting in the basement under the sound of 'hailstones'. The scariest moment for me was when we were playing away in the Europa League, and I could not call my loved ones to find out if they were OK and what was going on in the city. The communication was very unstable then.
- Did you hear the explosions and gunfire in the city? At that time, I remember the SSU building in Luhansk burned down.
- I often heard shots and even military planes flying over. Memories of that are clearly preserved in my memory.
- At that time there were a lot of foreigners playing for Zorya. How did the foreigners perceive the situation?
- Legionnaires always asked us: what is going on? Everyone was worried. We tried to cheer them up, but I think it did not work out. They lived in the centre of Luhansk and saw unrest in the street every day. I lived on the outskirts, in the sleeping area, it was calmer there.
- What did the club management told you?
- We didn`t talk much with the management, we talked more with the guys in the team and the coaching staff. The management told us to be careful and not to appear too much in public places. Everyone understood that we must finish the championship, so we tried to focus only on the upcoming games.
- Let's recall the match against Zakarpattya at Avangard.
- I don't even want to call it "the last one", I want Zorya to return home soon and delight the fans in Lugansk. It is symbolic that the last game in Lugansk so far we won 1-0. I remember there were quite a lot of fans at Avangard, everyone supported us.
We attacked the gates of Zakarpattya, but could not score, though we created a lot of chances. In the second half Yuriy Vernidub released a very young Ruslan Malinovskiy and this change worked. Ruslan tricked one player and with his famous long-range shot from the left netted the winning goal.
Andriy Piskun
