West Ham\u2019s Andriy Yarmolenko candidly admitted that playing on at his club as the war commenced in Ukraine\u00a0was the only way he could stop himself going \u2018crazy\u2019 at the thought of his family being shelled by Russian forces then.<\/p>\n
Addressing publicly for the first time the turmoil he had to endure since the invasion of his homeland last month, West Ham forward Yarmolenko, 32, revealed his anguish at having sent his family back to Kyiv for a medical appointment a day before the tanks rolled in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it all started, on February 24, I arrived at training and couldn\u2019t even talk,\u2019 Yarmolenko told Ukrainian YouTube channel Football 1\/2\/3.<\/p>\n
“I had tears flowing. I asked the coach to let me go home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t believe this could happen \u2014 I sent my family to Kyiv because my child had to have a doctor\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you imagine what I was like when it started the next morning? I just wanted to run and hit my head against a wall \u2014 what a fool I was sending my family to Kyiv and I am sitting in London.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thankfully, Yarmolenko was subsequently able to get his family out of harm\u2019s way and back to safety in London and has since continued to play for his club, registering goals against Aston Villa and Sevilla. He made the frank admission that football has helped distract him from the war atrocities back home in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid Moyes told me I could choose to train or not and that I had to do everything I could to ensure the safety of my family,\u2019 he said. \u2018I needed to remain professional so I returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just going crazy and you need to be distracted. But even now, I don\u2019t know what the other results are. It is just training ends and then the phone calls home.\u201d<\/p>\n
When questioned about about his the rest of his family\u2019s well-being in his homeland, he said:<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the relatives are alive and well. My cousins help keep in touch with uncles, aunts. The ones there, where there is constant shelling going on, they are in bomb shelters, hiding in basements.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is honestly scary to talk about it. We have to help each other \u2014 if we do not then no one will.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sure we will not be beaten by any country. No one will ever be able to break our spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"