Shakhtar owner steps up for Ukraine

Shakhtar Donetsk owner Rinat Akhmetov pledged Monday to give $25 million to help the families of soldiers who defended the city of Mariupol when it was attacked by the Russian military. “The money will be used to cover different needs — from providing medical and prosthetic treatment and psychological support to meeting specific requests,” Akhmetov said in a statement on Shakhtar’s website. During the fall of Mariupol, the fighters who held out for months under relentless bombardment inside the Azovstal steel plant — which is owned by Akhmetov’s Metinvest — became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the early months of the invasion. “Their acts of bravery are unparalleled in the modern history,” Akhmetov, above, said launching the “Heart of Azovstal” project. Shakhtar has been exiled from Donetsk since 2014 during a conflict with pro-Russian forces and then the war since last February. The showpiece stadium has been damaged but not destroyed, and the Ukrainian Premier League is now being played in Kyiv and the west of the country.