Heartbroken West Ham star Andriy Yarmolenko says he cannot focus on football as he faces up to horrors of war in Ukraine
HEARTBROKEN Andriy Yarmolenko admits he cannot focus on football as he faces up to the horrors of the war in Ukraine.
The West Ham ace has started playing again after being given compassionate leave as he desperately tried to keep his family and friends safe from danger.
But in a harrowing interview, the frightened Ukrainian forward, 32, accused Vladimir Putin’s Russian regime of “pure genocide”.
Some of his family are hiding in bomb shelters in his hometown city of Chernihiv under fierce attack from relentless Russian shelling.
Yarmolenko could not eat or sleep as he battled to find out if his friends and family were safe.
He broke down in tears after sending his wife and child to Kyiv just ONE DAY before Russia’s shock invasion.
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The West Ham man has also called on the British Government to stop Ukrainians being killed.
And he wants footballers to offer shelter, medicine and money for the victims.
Yarmolenko declared: “It’s hard to talk about football, to think about football.
“When I train, when I play, I don’t know how it happens.