Everton player Mikolenko criticizes the silence of the Russian players on the "invasion of Ukraine"

Everton player Vitaly Mikolenko has criticized Russian captain Artem Dzyuba and his teammates for their silence over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian defender Mykolenko, who joined Everton from Dynamo Kyiv last January, hugged his compatriot Oleksandr Zinchenko of Manchester City before the start of the two teams' match at the beginning of this week, while the focus of the football world is on the crisis facing Ukraine.

But despite the growing support for Ukraine, Mikolenko expressed anger at the lack of participation of the Russian players in this support, according to the British news agency "PA Media".

"While you are silent with your fellow soccer teammates, there are peaceful civilians being killed in Ukraine," Mikolenko, 22, said on Instagram.

Mikolenko's comments came one day after the decision of the International Federations (FIFA) and the European Union (UEFA) to impose a ban on the participation of Russian national teams and teams in all their competitions.

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