‘I was scared about my family:’ Why two Ukrainian footballers keep playing despite Russia’s invasion
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Loading... - Ilaria Danese
- 03 May 2023
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Ukrainian soccer player Taras Stepanenko still remembers the intense fear he felt as he heard the sound of gunfire and explosions during the initial days of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine.
The 33-year-old was hiding in a basement in Kyiv with his family as Russian troops approached the city.
“You’re just a footballer, you have three kids and a wife and you don’t know what to do. You don’t know what to do if Russian troops come to your house,” Stepanenko told CNN Sport.
“It’s very difficult for me, as a man who wanted to support his family. I was scared about my family, I really didn’t know what to do in that specific situation.”
Stepanenko had been at his family home when he learned about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the early morning of February 24, 2022.
That date is seared into Stepanenko’s memory as the day that his life, and the lives of millions across Ukraine, changed forever.
Amid all the chaos and confusion, Stepanenko decided that his family would be safer hiding in the basement of their home.
They spent three days sheltering, unsure of what their fate would be, before eventually escaping the nation’s capital.
The family moved south to get away from the fighting before eventually leaving the country and moving to Moldova, then Romania, before finally settling in Spain.
“I really felt relieved when we moved from Kyiv,” Stepanenko said as he spoke to CNN in London ahead of Ukraine’s Euro 2024 qualifier against England in March.
Escaping Ukraine
It’s been over a year since the start of the war, which shows no sign of ending.
The devastation has only truly been revealed in the aftermath of Russia’s retreat from areas north of the capital city of Kyiv and parts of southern and eastern Ukraine. The names of towns like Bucha and Irpin have become synonymous with Russian atrocities and alleged war crimes. Read More…
