Inside the windowless conference room of the Kyiv hotel where the soccer stars had gathered, the anxiety was growing by the minute. An aborted attempt to flee had been a disaster. And the sounds of war – mortar fire, rocket blasts, screeching warplanes – provided a near-constant reminder of their precarious circumstances.
By Saturday morning the group, made up mostly of Brazilians but now swelled by other South Americans and Italians, numbered as many as 70. The players had come to Ukraine to play soccer; weeks earlier, they had taken the field in the Champions League, Europe’s richest competition. Now, with their season suspended and Russian forces advancing on the city, they were huddled with their families – wives, partners, young children, ageing relatives – and plotting how, and when, to make a run for their lives.
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- February 28, 2022
