Andriy Yarmolenko has admitted that playing on through the war in Ukraine is the only way he can stop himself going ‘crazy’ at the thought of his family being shelled by Russian forces.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the invasion of his homeland last month, West Ham forward Yarmolenko, 32, revealed his anguish at having sent his family back to Kyiv for a medical appointment a day before the tanks rolled in.

‘When it all started, on February 24, I arrived at training and couldn’t even talk,’ Yarmolenko told Ukrainian YouTube channel Football 1/2/3. ‘I had tears flowing. I asked the coach to let me go home. 

Andriy Yarmolenko (centre) has spoken about his turmoil amid the invasion of Ukraine

‘I didn’t believe this could happen — I sent my family to Kyiv because my child had to have a doctor’s appointment.

‘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 has since managed to get his family back to safety in London and has continued to play for his club, scoring two emotional goals against Aston Villa and Sevilla. And he admitted football has helped distract him from the atrocities back home.

‘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,’ he said. ‘I needed to remain professional so I returned.

Yarmolenko sent his family back to Ukraine the day before the war started 

‘I was just going crazy and you need to be distracted. But even now, I don’t know what the other results are. It is just training ends and then the phone calls home.’

Asked about his family, he said: ‘All the relatives are alive and well. My cousins help keep in touch with uncles, aunts. The ones there, where there is constant shelling going on, they are in bomb shelters, hiding in basements.

‘It is honestly scary to talk about it. We have to help each other — if we do not then no one will.

‘I am sure we will not be beaten by any country. No one will ever be able to break our spirit.’

Ukraine international Yarmolenko has since managed to get his family to safety 

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