The Shakhtar Donetsk goalkeeper, who also played for the national team, lived in the western Ukrainian town of Lutsk as he spoke to CNN about life in his war-torn country. war.
Lutsk has been the target of Russian missile strikes over the past month and Trubin was heartbroken at the devastation he saw in his homeland.
“I don’t understand how it’s possible in 2022 and for me it’s like a nightmare and it’s really scary for everyone in Ukraine,” Trubin told CNN Sport’s Patrick Snell.
Ukraine’s national league has been suspended amid the fighting, leaving players like Trubin free to help with the relief effort.
He says his Donetsk teammates have taken to fundraising for war victims and Trubin wants to use his platform to send messages of hope to those facing the brutal reality of war.
“A lot of players help our country and of course I will do the same. It’s important for our military and our country,” he said.
“We have a lot of posts on our social media, so we try to connect and we put our powers and our collective spirit for different things.
“We try to buy [things] and send them to different cities. It’s very difficult but it’s very important for our people.”
Trubin is one of many Ukrainian sports stars who stayed or returned to Ukraine to help during the war.
Trubin explains why so many of his countrymen felt compelled to join in the effort.
“Our spirit is one of the strongest,” he says of Ukrainians. “That part of our mind, no one can take it out of our body. We try to give it our all.
“My heart is bleeding. A lot of people, a lot of children, are being killed and I don’t understand that. Putin is a killer and I don’t understand how it’s possible.”
Images of at least 20 bodies strewn on the street in Bucha, Ukraine, emerged over the weekend after Russian forces withdrew from the area, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to call for an end to “crimes of war” Russians.
And Trubin says he has a message for those who wage war in his homeland.
“We will win this war and our country will be stronger, more beautiful and one of the best in the world,” he said stoically. “It’ll be OK.
“That’s why we keep fit and keep training. We want to go abroad to have a place where we can train better.”
Ukraine participated in last week’s World Cup draw in Doha, Qatar.
If Ukraine wants to participate in the World Cup, they must first beat Scotland, then Wales.
The date of the postponed qualification has yet to be announced by FIFA.
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