Shakhtar on the road again with important mission to fulfil

MANCHESTER, England : Shakhtar Donetsk are no strangers to a nomadic existence, but the club's latest journey is taking them across Europe in an attempt to raise money for Ukrainians affected by the conflict with Russia, led by a man who has seen it all before.

Escaping from Kyiv in late February as Russian bombs fell in the Ukrainian capital brought it all flooding back for Shakhtar's director of football Darijo Srna.

Srna first experienced war as a child when the former Yugoslavia broke apart in the 1990s, before the Croatian left his home in Donetsk while a player at Shakhtar as Russian-backed forces entered the region in 2014, where they remain.

A nomadic existence began as Shakhtar moved to the western city of Lviv, then settling in Kyiv before the Russians again caused them to move on.

"War is not a nice experience in any way, I should know," Srna, 39, told Reuters in a Zoom interview.

"In war there is no winner. You can rebuild schools or hospitals but you cannot bring back human beings.

"I keep reading articles saying Russia invaded Ukraine 50, 60 days ago, but they came in 2014 when we lost our homes, our stadium and some of our people. We know now we must do something more to help."

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

After agreeing with the government that Ukrainian players did not have to stay and fight the Russians, Srna, who spent 15 years as a player at the club, has organised for Shakhtar to play a series of matches on their "Global Tour for Peace".

Football's travellers have played matches in Poland, Turkey and Greece, before