Paulo Fonseca details harrowing 30-hour escape from war in Ukraine

The former Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk manager has recalled his harrowing experience of escaping the war in Ukraine with his family.

Paulo Fonseca has recounted how he spent over a day in an underground bunker during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine before escaping the country in a 30-hour drive with his family.

The 49-year-old Portuguese, who lives in Kyiv with his Ukrainian wife and children, cut short a family holiday in the Maldives to return to Ukraine last week to help his wife’s family leave the country.

Hours before their planned departure, however, Russia’s bombing started.

The Fonseca family tried to escape by car, but a gridlock around the main roads forced them east before heading to shelter in Donetsk following a call from the sporting director of Shakhtar, Dario Srna.

My family and I are safe in Romania and hopefully will travel to Portugal on Monday. We thank everyone who has helped us. The nightmare continues for people in Ukraine and we appeal for help and for the war to end. 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/uXr8ONnyIc

— Paulo Fonseca (@PFonsecaCoach) February 27, 2022

‘We didn’t know what to do’

Speaking to Sky Sports about his escape, Fonseca said: “We didn’t know what to do. Everyone was trying to leave Kyiv.

“Dario 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 traveled 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.”

‘These people, this country, doesn’t deserve what is happening’

Fonseca and his family are now in Portugal, and he has now called for more support for the people of Ukraine.

“These people, this country, doesn’t deserve what is happening,” Fonseca added.

“But they are heroes, they are fighting, and it’s really difficult for us to see the situation in Ukraine … I’m seeing all Europe trying to help everyone, I understand the political situation, but I have to say it’s not enough. I don’t know what more we can do, but we have to do more – or they will all die.”