Shakhtar Donetsk has verified that the club’s Brazilian players have been successfully evacuated due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Following Russia’s invasion of its neighbors last week, a number of trapped Brazilian players from Shakhtar and rival Dynamo Kyiv took refuge in the basement of a Kyiv hotel with their families and issued a public request for aid to escape the crisis.
“The situation is one of despair. I ask you to disclose this video so that it reaches the [Brazilian] government,” said Shakhtar defender Marlon Santos.
“Borders are closed, banks [are shut], there is no fuel, there will be a shortage of food, there is no money.”
However, Shakhtar reported on Tuesday that their 13 Brazilian players, as well as Dynamo Kyiv’s international players, had been safely evacuated from Ukraine to Moldova and subsequently to Romania.
According to Reuters, three Brazilians representing SK Dnipro-1 departed Ukraine for Romania over the weekend.
The drive out of Ukraine took 16 hours, according to the agent of Shakhtar’s teenage defender Vinicius Tobias, and the players planned to fly back to Brazil from Bucharest.
“The evacuation of the players was made possible thanks to the personal assistance of UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, the Ukrainian Football Association President Andrii Pavelko and the Moldovan Football Federation President Leonid Oleinichenko,” Shakhtar said in a statement.
“We want to thank for the assistance everyone who took part in this process.”