War Russia-Ukraine: LA Galaxy and former Shaktar Donetsk player fears for his old home

War broke out in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced the start of a military operation in eastern Ukraine to protect people from "abuses and genocide" by the Ukrainian government for the past eight years.

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And early Thursday morning, the first explosions occurred in several cities, including the city of Kyiv. But if anyone sees what is happening in Ukraine with fearful eyes, there is no doubt that it is the Brazilian Douglas Costa, who played six seasons with Shakhtar of the Ukrainian league, and who recently signed with LA Galaxy.

"Ukraine is in my heart," Costa told the Los Angeles Times. However, that heart is currently broken after seeing how the stadium that saw him become a legend in Ukraine is abandoned and damaged by artillery fire.

What did Douglas Costa say?

That country that tucked him in for a long time, that gave him an opportunity, that allowed him to play in the UEFA Champions League. That nation he called home is experiencing complicated and tragic moments.

"I am very sorry because it is a country that has given me so many things," he says in Spanish, his second language. "The opportunity to play in the Champions League. The opportunity to change my family's life. So I send my best feelings to the Ukrainians for everything they did for me" admitted Douglas.

The Brazilian regrets from the bottom of his heart the situation, and assures that unfortunately

The conflicts between Russians and Ukrainians date back to 2014

The first conflict with Russia and Russian-backed rebels in 2014, during Costa's penultimate season in Ukraine, killed more than 13,000 people and forced Shakhtar, once among the continent's top 20 teams, to flee Donetsk, beginning a seven-year odyssey that has seen the club finally settle 700 miles away in Kyiv, a city that is not even in the same time zone.

Currently, many of Shakhtar's squad players have never been to Donetsk, which is now controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists, who last week began evacuating much of the population to Russia in what some fear is part of an effort to create a pretext for war.

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