Artem Genne's favourite footballing memory is standing on the Donbas Arena pitch, waving the Champions League flag, before Shakhtar Donetsk faced Chelsea. Two years later, the Russian-backed capture of Donetsk led many Ukrainians to leave the city, including ardent Shakhtar supporter Genne. A large number fled to other areas of Ukraine and beyond, with the region's football club forced to find a new home.
Fourteen years later, they are still searching. It has led Shakhtar to Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv in Ukraine, and Poland, Slovenia and Germany for European games. This season they will play their home Champions League fixtures at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, with Genne, who now lives in the West Midlands, aiming to attend all four - starting with AEK Athens on Wednesday.
"When the invasion started, lots of people left, thinking that it's all going to be over in several weeks, we'll be coming back. But unfortunately, that didn't happen," he says. "When I meet people from my home area of Ukraine abroad, it gives you a sense of home and hope.
"Knowing that you're sharing the values and you remember the times when it was different, that's important. It gives you a bit of a soft tear because that's something you cannot touch any more. "In the UK, people are very supportive and I want to highlight that I'm extremely grateful to this country for hosting so many of our people at the most difficult time.
"When you're walking around in a Shakhtar shirt, people are clapping their hands and giving you high fives and there is no aggression whatsoever." Dima Prasolov, who left Donetsk for Kyiv after the war started and now lives in Kent, is another who will be supporting, with fans able to buy a four-game pass. "I was ecstatic because it's the first time in about 15 years that I will be able to buy some sort of a season ticket for Shakhtar," says Prasolov. "It really means everything to me because it's the club I've been supporting all my life.
But since the Russian invasion, for us Donbas people, watching our team regularly is almost impossible. "For me, it's a very emotional situation, because of how much the club means to me and how dedicated myself and my family are to the club." Indeed, the London stadium offers a brief safe haven from the uncertainty faced in Ukraine. Chief executive Sergei Palkin says Shakhtar have had to move their under-12 team to a safer area of Kyiv following recent attacks, while their women's side had a match disrupted by a nearby drone strike.
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