Rangers legend Alexei Mikhailichenko will fight to oust the Russian army from his native Ukraine.
The former Ibrox hero and son Alexei junior have pledged their services to the resistance.
Mikhailichenko Snr, 58, has no military training but both he and his elder son will do everything to stop the invaders’ march on their home city of Kyiv.
Speaking to the Daily Record, Alexei Jnr, 38, said: “My dad and I have signed up for the territorial defence forces. This is the civilian unit of the defence force and if needed, yes we’re ready to defend our country.
“We had great preparation during the Maidan Revolution, when Ukrainian society came together to help each other in 2014.
“My dad and I are willing to help. We don’t have military experience but we’ll help any way we can by monitoring the area, driving the soldiers or getting food to them.”
Mikhailichenko Snr wrote his name into Gers history as part of their nine-in-a-row team.
The Ukraine international has been inundated with messages of goodwill including from his old Rangers captain Richard Gough.
“Those messages mean so much,” said Miko, who is now president of the Ukrainian FA.
“I love Rangers very much. I played for the club for so many years and fell in love with the club and people of Glasgow.
“The Scots and the Ukrainians have one thing in common and that’s their will to fight for their freedom.”
Last week the Daily Record revealed how Mikhailichenko was holed up in his city flat with wife Inna, sons Alexei and Matthew plus other relatives.
Mikhailichenko has now moved the family to the country.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has banned adult males aged between 18 and 60 from leaving as he tries to scramble together a defence force.
But that has left Mikhailichenko with a heartbreaking decision whether to send 17-year-old Matthew away. Alexei Jnr said: “My dad and I cannot leave as we’re aged between 18 and 60. But at this stage I don’t think we want to leave either.
“Why should we leave our home because the Russians think they can do this?
“Right now we’re about 20km away from the centre of Kyiv in our country house.
“Normally we all live right in the centre of the city, near to the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine’s parliament]. But that’s a really dangerous place right now so we’ve moved to our country house.
“We can still see rockets hitting an area about 30km from where we are now – but that’s a lot closer to our home in the city.
“We’re relatively safe for now – well as safe as we can be. But it is a constant worry about what is going to happen.
“You can never relax. The atmosphere is tense.
“We do keep going back and forward on whether to leave because of Matthew. He’s 17 and we’d like to get him to safety. But he also wants to stay with us.
“We’re also a family, so it’s like either all of us go or none of us. That’s the decision that’s been made at this time.
“It’s a difficult call. We’re constantly going back and forth asking, ‘What do we do?’ But at this time we’re staying together.
“We’re holding on. The situation is our troops are fighting well but they are bombing us a lot.
“There’s a lot of civilians getting hurt. They are using rockets and hitting residential houses and children’s hospitals. It’s horrible.
“The shop shelves are empty and there are queues for food. All the classics of war.
“Right now things are OK but there is army everywhere and barricades blocking a lot of the roads. We can’t go out at certain times because martial law has been implemented. We just have to pray that we can find a way to survive.”
