Shakhtar Donetsk, Dynamo Kyiv's Brazilian Players in Ukraine Make Public Plea for Help

Players with their wives and children recorded a video, asking for aid.

Brazilian players from Ukraine soccer clubs Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv have made a public plea for help leaving the country after Russia’s attack that started Wednesday. The players and their families have taken refuge at a hotel in the country’s capital Kyiv.

“Here we are all gathered, Dynamo and Shakhtar players, with our families, staying here at the hotel because of the situation,” Shakhtar defender Marlon Santos said, per ESPN. “We are here asking for your help, due to the lack of conditions in the city, closed borders, closed airspace. There’s no way we can get out. We ask a lot of support from the government of Brazil, which can help us.”

Ukraine is under martial law across the country after Russia’s invasion. In the video, players appear to be surrounded by their wives and children. There are a total of 35 Brazilian soccer players competing in Ukraine, according to ESPN. 

“We women are with our children and feeling a little abandoned,” one of the wives said. “We don’t know what to do, nothing [information] comes to us. We make an appeal to you, even for the sake of the children. Each one left the house running to come to the hotel.”