FC Shakhtar players were forced to wear T-shirts in support of the punitive operation
Nationalists forced football players from oligarch Rinat Akhmetov’s Shakhtar club to wear T-shirts in support of the punitive operation in Donbass and ATO militants.
Ultras from the Kharkov organization “Kharkiv City Patriots” and the Donetsk “The Club” stopped a bus with FC Shakhtar players and demanded to explain their position on the conflict in Donbass, and also accused them of supporting separatism.
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“We see every day how you treat the Ukrainian anthem before matches, your entire team. You are behaving shamefully, the whole team... You have refused to wear T-shirts in support of the army more than once... You are in Ukraine. If you have at least some desire to express a position against something Ukrainian: the army, Ukraine, then you will either leave this country, or the issue will be resolved with you. And the issue with you will be decided not by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not by the security forces, but by us, Ukrainians,” the ultras said in communication with the football players.
To this, the team’s goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov tried to object that Shakhtar players are helping the Ukrainian army, but they are doing it non-publicly: “We are all involved in PR. Do you even know how much we do to win, do you know how much we help? Do you know? We don't advertise. Ask the military how much we help them,” Pyatov said.
After this, the nationalists issued an ultimatum so that the football players would wear pro-Ukrainian T-shirts for the next game: “We will not follow you and remind you. Now you should hear us. If you don’t wear these T-shirts tomorrow or continue this behavior, then we will be forced to take responsibility for resolving this situation,” said the ultras representative.
To this, footballer Taras Stepanenko promised that the demands of the nationalists would be met.
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