To mark four years since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Olympique Lyonnais coach Paulo Fonseca, who spent three years in the country as Shakhtar Donetsk boss, shared with L’Équipe some very personal thoughts on the conflict.
Having spent 2016-2019 in Ukraine, where he met his Ukrainian wife Kateryna and where their son was born, Fonseca remains affected on a daily basis by the family’s dramatic departure from the country and the ongoing war. Asked how he feels when he thinks about Ukraine, he replies, “I am outraged. The attacks on Ukraine are ever larger and more deadly. I had hoped that, over time, things would change. But since Mr. Trump returned to power and promised a quick peace, the situation has worsened. Every day, hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles fall. The United States has weakened the position of Ukraine and that of the European Union. And this has made life even more difficult for Ukrainians. I feel more and more outraged.”
Fonseca recalled the days leading up to the war and the day of the outbreak of the conflict:
“The situation was very calm in Kyiv. Few people believed that the war would start there. People said it was going to start in the Donetsk region, Luhansk, but that here, nothing was going to happen, at least at the beginning. Even at Shakhtar, I remember, people were calm. They didn’t believe it was going to happen like this.”
“In Kyiv, our apartment is on the top floor. And when I heard that noise [of the first bombs], at 5 a.m., I got up, went to the window and saw the smoke. It’s quite a long way off. But this image: when I approach the window and I see the smoke over the city, this noise, it doesn’t come out of my head.”
Asked how his wife was feeling, Fonseca noted that, like many others, her family has been affected since as far back as 2014:
“She feels things even more strongly than I do. We dream of coming back to Ukraine, to a country in peace, without danger. She is from Donetsk and has been living in this situation since the first days of 2014. She often told me about what happened in Donetsk at the time [pro-Russian Ukrainian separatist forces, backed by Russia, took control of the Donbas region where Donetsk is located]. Her family had to leave their home to go to Kyiv, then, and now they have had to leave Kyiv for Portugal. A few days after taking my wife’s grandparents to Portugal, their house was completely destroyed. There is nothing left of their city, near Donetsk. My in-laws worked all their lives to have a house. In 2014, they had to leave everything behind to go to Kyiv, where they rebuilt their lives. And four years ago, they had to leave everything behind again. It’s terrible, terrible, very difficult to accept. All Ukrainians are suffering so much.”
It is not only Fonseca and his wife but also their son, who was only three when they left, who is hurting, Fonseca observing that “he talks a lot about Kyiv. He always asks me when I will return to Kyiv, when we will return home.”
Fonseca’s love for Ukraine and its citizens is evident, and he talks about friends with whom he remains in touch and how they are dealing with the war on a daily basis:
“Ukraine is a fantastic country. I love the people, I love the country. I feel a little Ukrainian. It is more difficult in the areas near Donetsk and Luhansk. But Kyiv, for example, is still a fantastic city. Lviv is a fantastic city. Kharkiv, where I spent so much time, is a fantastic city.”
“What everyone tells me is that life is continuing almost as normal in Kyiv in a way. The restaurants are open, and there is a lot of traffic. People have become used to it, if you can say that. They have an app on their phone, they know when the drones and missiles are coming, and then they go to the shelters.”
“They try to live a normal life. But there is no normality. You have a son, you take him to school in the morning and you wonder what can happen at school. A bomb may fall on the building and you will never see your son again. The other day, I saw this infant saved from the flames by a miracle by the firefighters… Imagine what it is like: you go to work and at any moment, a bomb can fall on the place where your family, and especially your children, are. People try to live a normal life, but I think it’s impossible. It’s a terrible daily life.”
Fonseca’s love for the country is such that he is ready to give something back as soon as he is able, in order to help the country rebuild:
“I would like to go back to Ukraine to work, to help this country, to develop football, which has immense potential. I would love to return to the national team or return to Shakhtar. It’s one of my dreams for the future. I don’t know when, but I love Ukraine, Ukrainians. And I feel that, in a way, I have to repay everything they have given me,” said Fonseca.
