Shane Warne sends ‘lots of love to my mate’ Andriy Shevchenko over Ukraine

Former Australia cricketer Shane Warne has criticised Russia’s “unprovoked” invasion of Ukraine as he sent “lots of love to my Ukrainian mate” Andriy Shevchenko.

Russian forces were closing in on Kyiv early on Saturday amid fears the Ukrainian capital was about to be engulfed in a devastating conflict.

Warne, regarded as the finest leg-spinner of all time, offered support to Shevchenko, the former Chelsea and AC Milan striker who also played for and managed his national side.

“The entire world is with the people of Ukraine as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” Warne tweeted.

“The pictures are horrific and I can’t believe more is not being done to stop this. Sending lots of love to my Ukrainian mate @jksheva7and his family,” the ex-spinner added, tagging Shevchenko’s Twitter handle and adding a love-heart emoji.

Warne took over 1,000 wickets in Tests and one-day internationals across his career before retiring from international cricket in January 2007.

Shevchenko took over as the Ukraine national side’s boss in 2016 and guided them to the quarter-finals at Euro 2020, where they were eliminated 4-0 by England. He stepped down in August when his contract ended and spent two months in charge of Genoa before being sacked on January 15.

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