Hammers star Andryi Yarmolenko had revealed he couldn’t talk nor train when he found out that the war broke in Ukraine, with his wife and kids in Kyiv, after arriving a day prior.West Ham United forward’s family were in Ukraine when the war started.”When it all started, on February 24, I arrived at training and couldn’t even talk,” Yarmolenko told Football 1/2/3.”I had tears flowing. I asked the coach to let me go home.”I didn’t believe this could happen. I sent my family to Kyiv because my child had to have a doctor’s appointment.War-torn Ukraine request a postponement of their WC Qualifiers play-offs”Can you imagine what I was like when it started the next morning? I just wanted to run and hit my head against a wall. What a fool I was sending my family to Kyiv, and I am sitting in London.”Yarmolenko, who returned to football on March 13 against Aston Villa and scored at the London Stadium, says he needed to return to the sport he loves to distract himself from the conflict.They might have lost the game, but the Hammers have won our hearts forever”I couldn’t sleep or eat. I was constantly on the phone with my relatives,” said Yarmolenko and added:”David Moyes told me I could choose to train or not and that I had to do everything I could to ensure the safety of my family.”I needed to remain professional, so I returned. I was just going crazy and needed to be distracted.”When Andriy Yarmolenko sent us through to the quarter-finals… Just look at those LIMBS! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/WERCL26a6R— West Ham United (@WestHam) March 19, 2022 The 32-year-old gave 75,000 British pounds to the Armed Forces of Ukraine to help defend the country. Yarmolenko admits he’s afraid to talk about the war.THU: 22.45: (1.45) PORTUGAL (4.50) TURKEY (8.50)”The ones there, where there is constant shelling going on, they are in a bomb shelter,” added Yarmolenko. “They are hiding in basements, like all people.”It is honestly scary to talk about it – to think how constantly hostilities are taking place when I saw what was being done to the villages.”I am now without tears. It is impossible to perceive it.”
