‘The worst possible nightmare’: voices from Ukrainian football as war rages

Four players and a coach with Ukrainian clubs reveal how their lives have been turned upside down by Russia's invasion

On the day the war began, I was in Kyiv with my family. I have been injured recently, so could not train with the team. At 5am my young son awoke, and my wife got up to calm him. Then we heard the explosions, one after the other. We thought there had been an accident, but then we read online that the war had begun. We quickly began to gather our belongings. I am Georgian, and was in Georgia in 2008 when Russia attacked our country, so this is not the first time I've been through a war. I told my wife: Let's get ready more quickly." I drove the car closer to our house, loaded it with things and then waited for a couple of my teammates. They are foreigners and also have young families. We drove away from Kyiv together.