Shakhtar Donetsk to keep travel plans secret after team hotel bombed days before stay

Shakhtar Donetsk have been forced to keep their movements top secret after a hotel they were due to stay in was bombed by Russian forces.

The club that became footballing nomads after Vladimir Putin first invaded Ukraine had been booked into the Aurora Hotel in central Kryvyi Rih ahead of their Ukrainian Premier League game against Kryvbas on Sunday.

But it was destroyed by a missile strike on Monday that killed at least two people and left several more trapped or injured.

The deadly attack has rocked Shakhtar’s squad and chief executive Serhiy Palkin, who flew to Monte Carlo afterwards to attend Thursday’s draw for the new-look Champions League.

Branding the missile strike “catastrophic”, Palkin told Telegraph Sport he had since been scrambling to find “some kind of safe place” for the team to stay this weekend.

“I know a place, a name of a hotel. But I cannot even tell you it because I don’t want to have any manipulations.”

He added: “Before, more or less, information was accessible. But, after what’s happened, I don’t want this information coming out.

“Keeping silent is better for us in this moment.”

‘Players are thinking about life, not football’

Palkin said there were “rumours” Russia deliberately targeted the hotel as part of its latest assault on Ukraine’s civilian population.

“The Russians already crossed all the red lines many, many years ago,” he added.

“Children, soldiers, journalists: they [Russia] don’t care.”

Discussing the impact of the bombing on his squad, Palkin said: “We have a situation where players are not thinking about football. They’re thinking about life.

“For us, it’s the biggest issue now: to save players’ lives.”

He also said he flew to Monte Carlo reluctantly following the incident, and added: “It’s the first time in more than 20 years I didn’t want to come here.

“I wanted to stay with the guys because I understand what they’re feeling.

“The team is not thinking about the Champions League draw or Champions League games. They’re thinking about the match on Sunday.”

Last month marked 10 years since Shakhtar was forced on the road by Putin’s ongoing attempts to annex eastern Ukraine.

They currently play their domestic home matches at the Arena Lviv on Ukraine’s western border but have been unable to stage European games in their homeland since Russia’s full-scale invasion there two and a half years ago.

After previously playing those fixtures in Warsaw and Hamburg, this season will see Shakhtar hosted by the VELTINS-Arena in Gelsenkirchen.

Palkin said he was confident of receiving “good support” in north-west Germany but added he would never give up on one day being back in the Donbass Arena he helped to build.

He said: “It’s our dream to return to Donetsk – to start again our story.”