Defender Zinchenko, 25, played for Russian team Ufa for a season and a half before signing for City in the summer of 2016. But he feels frustrated by friends there who have not condemned Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of his homeland. “I have friends there, a small circle, but now it has been reduced to almost nothing,” Zinchenko told the Guardian. ‘I’m so disappointed. The children I know called me as soon as the invasion took place, sending me a message: “I’m very sorry, Alex, but there is nothing we can do.” Of course you can. If you remain silent, it means that you support what is happening in Ukraine right now, and I can not understand why they did it. “Perhaps they are afraid, because we see photos on Russian social media of them being taken to prison if they protest. Manchester City’s Ukrainian defender Oleksandr Zinchenko has beaten his former team-mates in the Russian team Ufa, who refused to talk about the war in his homeland. Manchester City fans offer their support to Zinchenko amid bloody conflict The Russian invasion brought death and destruction to Zinchenko’s Ukrainian homeland “But look at the players in particular or anyone with a huge audience. Can you believe that if they all uploaded something to Instagram at the same time saying: “Guys, we are against the war, we must stop it”, would they all be arrested? “It simply came to our notice then. And it’s such a pity that they say nothing. ” Zinchenko hails from the town of Radomyshl, a two-hour drive west of the capital Kyiv, and says he heard stories of Russian troops “hiding in the woods, trying to find civilians in their cars, killing them and taking what they had.” ». Russian forces have now withdrawn from the area around Kyiv, having failed in their goal of occupying the capital and overthrowing the government led by Volodymyr Zelensky. Zinchenko described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “creature” and wished him “a more painful death” in an Instagram post shortly after the invasion began. Ukrainian international has spoken regularly about the horror unfolding in his homeland The invading army is now concentrating on the eastern part of Donbass, trying to “liberate” the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk, where Russian-backed separatists were in control before the invasion in late February. But new horrors of civilian suffering are being discovered on a daily basis as Russian forces withdraw. The Kyiv region police chief said on Friday that the bodies of 900 civilians had been found in cities around the capital, including 350 in Bhutan. The United Nations estimates that five million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes during the conflict. The bodies are exhumed from mass graves in the city of Bukha after the Russian withdrawal The wreckage of armored vehicles in Bucha after the withdrawal of Russia in the east of the country Zinchenko said: “It’s a nightmare. A shock to the whole world, the things they have done. Scary, scary things. “They killed our civilians. They killed our children. They raped our women and girls. They killed our dogs and even ate them. I can not even begin to describe how I feel about them. “I hate them so much for everything they have done to the Ukrainian people and to Ukraine. And I hate people in Russia who try to convince others that this is propaganda. It ‘s embarrassing. How can they say that? “People sent me photos, the real facts. The bodies of our dead civilians were on the ground for two weeks. “They have to take responsibility for that.” Zinchenko admits it was difficult to concentrate on football amid crisis at home Zinchenko posted a photo of Putin on Instagram shortly after the invasion began, writing: “I hope you die the most painful, painful death, a creature.” He admitted that it was very difficult to concentrate on football issues, with City chasing the Premier League treble, the FA Cup and the Champions League this season. They play Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Saturday afternoon.
