BUCHAREST: Ukraine club Shakhtar Donetsk have evacuated all their 12 Brazilian players to Romania in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Dynamo Kyiv and SK Dnipro are also understood to have helped their foreign players leave the country.

A Shakhtar statement said: “We want to thank for the assistance everyone who took part in this process.

“The evacuation of the players was made possible thanks to the personal assistance of Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, the Ukrainian Football Association President Andrii Pavelko and the Moldovan Football Federation President Leonid Oleinichenko.”

Shakhtar lead the Ukraine Premier League but have not played a fixture since December 11 because of the winter break and programme suspension after the Russian invasion. Their Brazilian players are expected to fly home to South America from Bucharest.

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