Yarmolenko called out Russian players in a message on social media
West Ham United winger and Ukraine international Andriy Yarmolenko has joined fellow international
Vitaliy Mykolenko in calling out Russian players for their silence on president Vladimir Putin's invasion of their homeland.
Yarmolenko has recently returned to training after being granted compassionate leave by the club - with all of his teammates wearing shirts featuring his name on the back during their warm-up ahead of their game against Newcastle United.
The 32-year-old, who is also the third-most capped player for his country,
reportedly donated in the region of £75,000 to the Ukrainian armed forces to help fight back against the Russian invasion - which has been ongoing since last Thursday.
However Yarmolenko went even further on Wednesday as he slammed Russian footballers for remaining silent on the ongoing war.
The winger tagged several Russians including the likes of Russia captain Artem Dzyuba, Atalanta's Aleksei Miranchuk and Valencia's Denis Cheryshev.
Yarmolenko also targeted former Russian internationals including Andrey Arshavin but focused on Dzyuba in particular, referencing a leaked video from 2020 which allegedly caught the forward masturbating.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CalKUXONldx/
He said: "I’m Andriy Yarmolenko, a Ukrainian national player, I was born in Saint Petersburg but grew up in Ukraine and regard myself as 100 per cent Ukrainian.
"I have a question for Russian players. Guys, why are you sitting like s***heads, and not saying anything?
"In my country they’re killing people, killing wives, killing mothers, killing our children. But you saying nothing, you’ve given no comments.
"Tell me please, what will happen if all of you together, united, show the people what is really happening in my country.
"I know a lot of you, I’m familiar with many of you and you all told me "it shouldn’t be like this", that your president is acting incorrectly.
"So guys, you have influence over the people, show this, I am asking you, please!
"I know some of you like to show your balls on camera but now the time’s come to show your balls in real life.
"Thank you for your attention! Glory to Ukraine."
Currently, Dynamo Moscow striker Fedor Smolov is the only high-profile Russian international to publicly condemn the Russian invasion.
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