Brazilian players for two Ukrainian soccer teams posted a video asking for help from their home country to get them out of Ukraine and out of the way of Putin’s invading forces.
Players from teams Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv have moved their families to several hotels in hopes of staying safe from the invasion, ESPN reported.
“We are really desperate. We are going through chaos,” Santos added on Instagram. “We have the support from our club. But the desperation is agonizing. We wait for the support from our country. We speak in the name of all the Brazilians in Ukraine.
TBILISI, GEORGIA – FEBRUARY 24: Georgians rally in support of Ukraine after Russia began its invasion on February 24, 2022, in Tbilisi, Georgia. Overnight, Russia began a large-scale attack on Ukraine, with explosions reported in multiple cities and far outside the restive eastern regions held by Russian-backed rebels. (Photo by Daro Sulakauri/Getty Images)
“Here we are all gathered, Dynamo and Shakhtar players, with our families, staying here at the hotel because of the situation,” Shakhtar defender Marlon Santos said. “We are here asking for your help, due to the lack of conditions in the city, closed borders, closed airspace. There’s no way we can get out. We ask a lot of support from the government of Brazil, which can help us.”
Santos is only one of 35 soccer players from Brazil who play for Ukrainian teams.
“We women are with our children and feeling a little abandoned,” one of the wives of a player said. “We don’t know what to do, nothing [information] comes to us. We make an appeal to you, even for the sake of the children. Each one left the house running to come to the hotel.”
Other players from Brazil also posted messages pleading for help to flee the country.
The communications director of Brazil’s foreign ministry, Leonardo Gorgulho, advised Brazilians living in eastern Ukraine to leave the country by their own means. He added that Brazil has no capacity to organize any evacuation efforts.
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