'Ukraine is my motherland! I have always been proud of my people and my country!'
Andriy Shevchenko has joined fellow Ukrainian Oleksandr Zinchenko in posting a defiant statement to social media amid the rising tensions his native Ukraine are experiencing with Russia.
Russian troops have surrounded the Ukrainian borders in recent months and moved into the country for the first time on Tuesday after president Vladimir Putin had formerly recognised two breakaway Russian separatist-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine.
Putin has claimed that the troops entering the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk will be there on "peacekeeping" operations, however there are growing fears that this is likely to lead to a full-scale invasion.
It was also announced on Tuesday that Putin had been given
permission to use armed forces abroad by Russian legislators - further increasing fears that tensions will escalate even more.
Manchester City utility man Zinchenko posted to his Instagram on Tuesday a message to his followers
which read: "The country that we are trying to glorify and develop. A country whose borders must remain intact. My country belongs to the Ukrainians and nobody can take it over. We will not give up ours! Glory to Ukraine!"
https://twitter.com/FootballJOE/status/1496253882950946820
Shevchenko has since followed up with a statement of his own on his Twitter account, expressing how he and his fellow Ukrainians will not give up, no matter what.
https://twitter.com/jksheva7/status/1496432162089934854
The former striker said: "Ukraine is my motherland! I have always been proud of my people and my country! We have gone through many difficult times, and over the past 30 years we have formed as a nation! A nation of sincere, hard-working and freedom-loving citizens! This is our most important asset!"
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