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Football: Oleksandr Zinchenko will fight in Ukraine if he is summoned

Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko has said he will leave the Premier League to fight in Ukraine if he is called up by his country which has been at war for two years with Russia.

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Football: Oleksandr Zinchenko will fight in Ukraine if he is summoned

Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko has said he will leave the Premier League to fight in Ukraine if he is called up by his country which has been at war for two years with Russia. “I think the answer is clear. I would go (to fight),” declared the 27-year-old left-back (60 caps) on the BBC's Newsnight program when asked about a possible call to join the front.

He added that former classmates were involved in the conflict. “It's hard to understand that not long ago we were in the same school, playing in the playground or on the football field, and now they have to defend our country. Honestly, it's hard to accept, but it is what it is. We can’t give up.”

The former Manchester City player told the BBC that he had donated around 1 million pounds (1.16 million euros) to help people in his country since the start of the conflict in 2022. I know some people might think it is much easier for me to be here (in London) than there (in Ukraine),” he said. “I really hope this war ends soon.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week signed into law a law lowering the age of mobilization of the Ukrainian army from 27 to 25, the parliament said on its website.

The mobilization was a point of contention in a nation exhausted by more than two years of war with Russia, which resulted in enormous military losses. Mr. Zelensky said in December that the army wanted to mobilize up to half a million people to fight.

The Arsenal player, who started his career at Russian side Ufa, said he is no longer in contact with his friends or former teammates who are in Russia. “Since the invasion, very few of them have sent me messages and I can't blame them because it's not their fault,” he said.

He added that “the Russian invasion had shown all Ukrainians that we can no longer be friends with the Russians. We will never forget what they did to us, what they did to our people,” he insisted. “And that’s what I will teach my children. And my children will teach it to their children. It's not acceptable."

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