Ukraine-Based English Footballer Shares Harrowing War Experience
Ukraine-based English forward Viv Solomon-Otabor has opened up on some harrowing experiences in trying to flee the Russia invasion.
Russia's millitary, on the orders of president Vladimir Putin, invaded Ukraine last Thursday, which has attracted worldwide condemnation.
The war has shown no signs of stopping soon and evacuation for foreign footballers have started in earnest.
Close to a million people have left Ukraine in the past week in an attempt to avoid getting caught up in the invasion.
Solomon-Otabor only joined Ukraine top flight side Rukh Lviv in the January transfer window.
The 26-year-old is yet to make his debut for his new club, having joined during the winter break and the league's resumption was pushed back because of the Russian invasion.
Solomon-Otabor is back in England and has opened up on how he made it back home.
"The club helped us - they had two options, either we go to Poland or home to our families," the former Wigan Athletic forward told BBC Sport.
"It's not nice for your families to know you're in or near a country where there is a war zone, so it's better to just be home for now.
"They literally gave us routes on how to get to the border. We went to the Polish border; we were there for about 10 hours. Me and two of my team-mates drove to the border. Then from the border we drove to Krakow. Then I was able to fly to London.
"I remember we were driving and there were tanks coming past us. You see that stuff on Call of Duty. It was surreal. I've never seen anything like that in my life.
"At the border, everyone was calm but you could see the fear in people's faces.
"When we got into Poland, we were at a petrol station. People were sleeping in their cars. Some were walking - they'd decided to walk to Poland for safety."
