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Former Arsenal star Oleh Luzhnyi has vowed to put his coaching aspirations on hold to stay and fight in Ukraine.

Russia have besieged Luzhnyi's home nation over the past few days following Vladimir Putin's decision to invade the country.

And a number of high-profile Ukrainian sports stars, including boxing icons Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, have vowed to take up arms.

Now Luzhnyi, who won the Premier League title and the FA Cup during his four-year stint at Arsenal, has revealed that he is also preparing to fight.

The 53-year-old did have plans to return to the UK in a bid to launch a coaching career.

However, he's vowed to remain in Ukraine to defend his country.

"The situation is horrific," he told Sky Sports. "I want to come to coach in the UK but before anything I will stand firmly and fight for my people, for my country and for democracy.

"We all hope this will be over soon as innocent lives are being lost and families are being torn apart. A country being invaded and destroyed is all for what? We need to stand together as one and bring to an end this criminal warfare."

Luzhnyi's brave vow comes just days after Wladimir, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, urged the rest of Europe to come to Ukraine's aid in the battle against Putin.

In a clip shared on social media, Wladimir declares: “I’m calling to all international partners to observe this strategy that is happening nowadays in Ukraine and this senseless war which is not going to have any winners, but losers.

“I just want to tell you we must stay united