Shakhtar provide supplies to refugees but ‘dreaming of return to normality’

Normality is another world for Shakhtar Donetsk. When Russia invaded Ukraine, football was stopped and the lives of the players, coaches, staff and fans were turned upside down in an instant. There was no time to waste with lives at stake as the autumn’s Champions League games against Real Madrid and Internazionale quickly became a distant memory.

Sergei Palkin, the chief executive, has been at the forefront of the club’s humanitarian efforts and ensuring the safety of players from the academy to the first-team captain. Critical decisions were constantly needed as the invasion began, a world away from transfer and contract negotiations, as Shakhtar looked to use their influence to make a positive impact as football takes a backseat during the conflict.

“We are dreaming when everything will be returned to normal, we dream of flying to play Champions League games,” Palkin says. “For us it will be the biggest win and the greatest happiness, but for now we can only dream about it.

“When you are leading a normal life, you never think about being happy, or your freedom, as you do in all democratic countries. When you have this kind of situation where war has arrived in our homes, you start to think about the essential stuff.”

The club left Donetsk for Lviv in 2014 after the outbreak of conflict with Russia that year. They have since endured a nomadic existence, moving to Kharkiv and then Kyiv as they looked to settle away from the fighting as their stadium, the Donbas Arena, was damaged by shelling. Knowing the impact of being forced out of their home, the club turned their focus on to humanitarian efforts in Lviv.

“At the beginning it was quite hard. When the war started it was a mess at the border because thousands and