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Former Ukrainian footballer Andrei Voronin in a photo from 2012. (Image: dpa)
(Foto: picture alliance / dpa)
Berlin – Former Bundesliga professional Andrei Voronin is grateful for the solidarity and support for his home country Ukraine.
“The whole world supports our country. People in Russia are also opposed to Putin,” said Voronin, who was born in Odessa, to the “Bild”. “I have messages from all over the world from former teammates, from other athletes. Also from Russians who write to me: “We are sorry. That’s not us.”
The 42-year-old Voronin was an assistant coach at Russian football club Dynamo Moscow until Russia invaded Ukraine, but then left the country. “We got out of Moscow with a line machine before the complete lockdown,” reported the trainer, who was born in Odessa in the Ukraine. “My father, just operated, my mother-in-law, my wife and the children are here now. The little ones went to the German school in Moscow.” But school doesn’t matter now.
He has been feeling really bad for days, Voronin said. It’s all as unreal as a movie. “But a horror film. I have hardly any words.” He is proud of his country. “We will keep fighting. And we will win. But the price is so high,” said Voronin, who played for Mainz and Leverkusen, among others, in his playing career.
Even though he came to Germany with his family, “in his thoughts and in his heart” he is in the Ukraine. He has friends in his home country from whom he constantly gets messages. “It’s hard to endure. I just want to help. With money. With whatever,” says Voronin. “And I don’t know if I should say this: But if I were in Ukraine now, I would probably have a gun in my hand too.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220301-99-333123/2
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