Glory to the warriors – our heroes!
Sunday, March 13, 2022
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The captain of Shakhtar and Ukraine Andriy Pyatov speaks about the war, helping people, and the dauntless nation
- Andriy, Ukraine has been resisting Russia’s military aggression for 18 days now. What is your attitude to this?
- It feels like it's been going on forever. A terrible war, this is real fascism – I don’t even know how to explain it in words. One person got crazy and decided to attack a peaceful, free country. This is the worst thing. Like all Ukrainians, we hope that this will end as soon as possible.
- How did you learn about the beginning of the war and what was your first reaction?
- On February 24, I woke up at five in the morning from the sound of a flying fighter, and my wife woke up literally a couple of minutes later from the sound of an explosion. She did not believe it and was sitting in shock, and I immediately opened the phone, read the news and saw that the war had begun. Immediately another explosion sounded, and we realized that we needed to act: gather the kids, go down to the parking lot, to some shelter, down to the basement.
- How do you follow the situation in the country? Do you keep in touch you’re your teammates?
- I follow everything that happens very carefully. We also help everyone together. And information wise too: we must convey to the world that this is Russian aggression, which is proved by many facts. We see everything with our own eyes, we film everything, we register it, unlike the Russian propaganda, when they just talk about it, without providing any facts. This is generally absurd. Of course, I keep in touch with my teammates, the team has groups: we help people with travelling and relocation, we try to help them, with advice or something else, depending on their needs.
- How are the days going for you and your family now?
- Every day is like a Groundhog Day. Because nothing changes, the bombing continues, the world sees it all, and the children see it all. The worst thing is that children get killed, our kids! It’s important that we show the whole world that this is really just genocide.
- You took part in filming a video address to the football community with an appeal to tell the truth about the war. How else can famous people help the Ukrainian people in this struggle?
- Of course, famous people have some influence, both media and finance wise. Some people get engaged in volunteering, some others join the territorial defence or the Armed Forces of Ukraine – everyone makes their choice. And in the same way, the guys and I together help our soldiers with everything they need. Glory to the warriors – our heroes! I would like to address all the Ukrainians: every day you prove that you are the strongest and best nation. We must stick together because only we can help ourselves. We know that we have the people who are strong in spirit, who will cope with everything, and who can overcome it all!