Paulo Fonseca shares Ukraine escape story after fleeing war with wife and child

Paulo Fonseca has praised the football community for their response to the Russia-Ukraine War after he was forced to flee war-torn country with his wife and toddler.

Russian president Vladimir Putin made the call to invade neighbouring Ukraine last month, leading to thousands of deaths in eastern Europe. Fonseca is married to Ukrainian TV star Katerina Ostroushko and was residing in the sovereign country with his family until the war started.

Fonseca won three Ukranian Premier League titles, three Ukraianian Cups and the Ukranian Super Cup during his three-year spell in charge of Shakhtar Donetsk. The Portuguese coach has previously been linked with Tottenham and Newcastle.

Fonseca was on holiday in the Maldives when Putin ordered the invasion in February but returned to Ukraine to help his wife's family escape. They spent over a day in an underground bunker before completing a 30-hour drive to seek refuge abroad.

"It was really very difficult, but I think it's much more difficult for the Ukrainians which continue there in Ukraine where the situation is becoming worse and worse every single day," Fonseca's wife Katerina told CNN Sport.

"This war is, I believe, one of the cruelest in the story of all of the world, because the soldiers that are killing us, they are talking the same language and it's unbelievable. We left everything in Ukraine. All the places that mean so much for us are still there, so my heart is there and my heart is broken for everything."

Football has shown a defiant response to the conflict. Russian clubs and the national team were banned from international competition following a show unity from the likes of Poland, who refused to play their World Cup play-off against Russia.

Fonseca added: "I'm very proud to be part of this world, to be part of football, what the people in football are doing, it's amazing. But I think we can do more. I would like to see the great personalities of football defending the peace in Europe. I think it can be very important."

Speaking earlier this month, Fonseca recalled his family's escape from Ukraine. "We didn't know what to do," he told Sky Sports News. "Everyone was trying to leave Kyiv. Dario [Srna, Shakhtar's sporting director] called me and said to come to the hotel owned by the president of Shakhtar.

"We moved to the hotel there, and stayed in a bunker there overnight, for one and a half days overall, with the Brazilian players from Shakhtar and the technical team. I started to think the situation was only going to get worse so we contacted the Portuguese embassy and they said tomorrow, we'll have a car and you can go.

"I decided to leave in the morning, the day after the car picked us up from the hotel and we started a long trip to the border. It was dangerous, we travelled all day and night without stopping. The journey was 30 hours, more including across the border with Moldova to where we were staying in Romania.

"I saw many times the troops of Ukraine pass on the road, we stopped and listened to the alarms, many times, and there was a lot of traffic. We spent a lot of time going 5kmph. During the trip, of course, we were in danger even driving in the night, and I heard the planes passing, but I didn't see shooting or fighting.

"We travelled with another family, a couple with a six-month-old baby. In the end we arrived on the border and felt safe, which was the most important thing."