Soccer - Three Brazilian soccer players flee Ukraine

Three Brazilian footballers who play for Ukrainian Premier Liga club SK Dnipro-1 have fled the war-torn nation and crossed the border into Romania, they said on social media on Saturday.

Gabriel Busanello, Bill and Felipe Pires all posted messages informing family and fans that they were safe.

"We did it, after two days of lots of terror and tension we managed to get out...and we're on our way home," Bill said on Instagram in a video recorded on the Romanian side of the border. "We managed it, now we're fine."

The 22-year-old left winger who joined the club from Flamengo only last month said they had taken a bus to the border with Romania and crossed on foot.

The players are just three of several Brazilians who posted videos on social media earlier this week appealing for help to escape Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion. [L1N2UZ1X0]

The Brazilian government had asked 500 or so Brazilians in Ukraine to stay in contact with the embassy.

"Now we have to help our people still in Ukraine," Felipe Pires wrote. "They really need our help and support."

(Reporting by Andrew Downie; Editing by Hugh Lawson)