As the world's eyes gyre around the Ukraine crisis, Metalist Kharkiv footballer Kadeem Harris is on the phone to his family, doing his best to assure them he is safe and all is well.
Back in September, former Cardiff City winger Harris became the first Englishman to play professional football in Ukraine. Five months later, his new home is at the centre of one of the most tense stand-offs with Russia in recent history.
Harris, 28, has left his family back in the UK. He speaks no Russian and is at a club where only three members of the team's playing and coaching staff speak English.
While he tries to seek clarity on the situation, his Metalist team-mates have tried to comfort him.
"I'm good," Harris tells WalesOnline. "When I talk to players here about what's going on, it seems to be amplified a lot more in the UK and in the (United) States. Over here there seems to be no worry, it's just something that's been ongoing for years. That's what I get from the players here.
"But for myself and my family it is definitely something to think about. No one wants their son or partner in the middle of a crisis or a war. They are worried.
"But I keep having to reassure them from my end.
"If anything was to happen, which hopefully it doesn't, there are measures in place for me and for other players where we will be on the first flight home or in safety.
"The main issue for me is that I don't want anything to happen anyway, regardless of if I'm safe or not. There are other people's lives at risk."
Ten days ago, the UK foreign office urged British nationals to get out of Ukraine as the threat of a Russian invasion intensified.
Fortunately for Harris, Metalist find themselves in Antalya, Turkey, for the time being, during the club's winter break.
The Englishman and his team-mates are due back in Kharkiv in just a few days' time and he and the club are monitoring the situation carefully.
Just hours after WalesOnline speaks to Harris, news filters through that Russian troops appear to have entered Ukraine amid fears Vladimir Putin will imminently attempt to seize control of separatist regions in the east of the country.
Asked what the protocols were if things were to escalate before being due back in Ukraine on February 28, Harris said: "It's a talk that we had - I'm in Turkey at the moment so it's not something that had to be enacted there and then, when the British Government said I need to go home.
"I have time to see if anything does happen while I'm in Turkey. As of yet there's been nothing and hopefully that continues.
"We have another few days out here and hopefully the situation will become clearer before I go to Ukraine and we will take it from there."
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Harris is being relayed messages from his friends and family in the UK about the news coverage, but he is trying to assuage the panic and hysteria by giving first-hand reports from his team-mates and their families.
"I've not seen the British news but I can imagine it's a lot scarier to be watching over there," he adds.
"It seems like a lot more is happening than what is happening. Speaking to the boys here who have family there, it's just normal, everyday life. Nothing is going on in Kharkiv and they have stressed that if anything was to happen then Kharkiv would be the last to experience it. There would be Donetsk and a few other cities before then, so I have time to address the matter.
"They keep trying to reassure me and I keep trying to reassure my family. It is a bit of a worrying time."
Harris admits that while he attempted to brush up on his knowledge of Ukraine, and even its rancorous relationship with Russia, it has been a mountainous learning curve for him moving to the country.
Given he had so many options in the Championship, as well as Germany and Turkey, it is a wonder why he chose Kharkiv.
"It's a big club with big ambition," responds Harris, who has two goals and an assist in his 13 games for the club. "They've got quite a bit of money that they are chucking into it.
"The club want to get back to the stage they were at all those years ago when it was a recognised club in Europe.
"They told me about the three-year plan for the club when I signed and playing in Europe was in it. When I heard all of that it was a no-brainer, I just want to be part of that.
"In a nutshell, I was in England, I made my debut when I was 16 and I didn't play consistently for 12 years.
"I played sporadically for 10 years in the Championship, I had a little stint in the Premier League as well. It was getting a bit repetitive.
"I wasn't at the point where I had always planned to be at this age, the Premier League, the very top. I wanted to try something new."
Metalist ceased operations in 2016 due to insolvency but were then reinstated in the Ukrainian third tier in 2020/21, earning promotion to the second tier at the first time of asking.
They are now romping to the league title. They are 20 points clear of the team in third place, having virtually already secured promotion despite still having 12 games still left to play when their season resumes on March 1.
'I can definitely call Cardiff home forever'
Harris will know all about promotion to the top flight, of course, having experienced it with Cardiff.
The winger moved to the Welsh capital at the age of 18 following two seasons with Wycombe Wanderers and enjoyed eight years with the Bluebirds, a club he holds incredibly dearly to his heart.
"First of all, what an amazing club. Amazing fans," Harris says of Cardiff. "It was eight years and it was a rollercoaster. I had many downs, injuries, not being selected and so on. But it was a great experience, I learned so much.
"That transition from a boy into a man was all done at Cardiff. It was a place where I grew mentally and physically and as a player.
"I played with a lot of great professionals as well. I have a lot of good things to say about my time at Cardiff.
"My best memories in football have happened at that club. It's a place I can definitely call home forever."
He admits there were times he was left frustrated. His time at the club was punctuated by loans to Brentford and Barnsley, as well as frustrating injuries whenever he seemed to break into the team.
But there were undoubtedly times of sheer, boundless joy. In fact, his greatest moment in football came in a Cardiff win over Fulham in the Premier League.
"Scoring against Fulham in the Premier League," he says, without hesitation, when asked about his favourite Cardiff memory.
"I'd been through so much at the club, it was a great moment for me and my family.
"I remember I spoke to Neil Warnock and I'd come off the back of two lengthy injuries the season before, so I wasn't really part of the promotion campaign. At the start of the Premier League season he said to me, 'I don't think you're going to play this season'.
"It was very difficult for me because the season before we got promoted I played a lot of games and was one of his favourites.
"Then Mendez (Nathaniel Mendez-Laing) came, who is a very good friend of mine, and he was on fire when he came. I felt like I was forgotten about. A lot of people say fans are fickle, but they suffer from the same thing as managers and coaches - it's easy to forget.
"The manager had Mendez, Junior Hoilett who was one of his favourites as well and then he brought in others and the conversation was that I was at the bottom of the pecking order and wouldn't play much.
"At that point I said I would come in every day, not sulk and work for myself. There might be a point where I could go on loan, so I was working really hard and coming in on days off.
"Then it came to a point when Mendez was injured, we didn't win a game, I was training really well. Then there was talk among the players of, 'Why isn't Kads playing?' and then I got my opportunity. That was a shock, against Tottenham I came in for the last 10 minutes, and then it progressed.
"I came on against Fulham, scored that goal and there was a bunch of emotions because of that conversation we had and all the other years, the things that didn't go my way at the club before that."
'A massive thank you to Bluebirds fans'
After eight years and only 79 appearances for the Bluebirds, Warnock told Harris he needed to go elsewhere to further his career and fulfil his dreams following City's relegation from the top flight.
A pattern had emerged whereby he would play and impress in flashes, but he needed consistency given where he was at in his life.
Warnock touched base with Steve Bruce, who was then at Sheffield Wednesday, and a deal was struck.
"I experienced every emotion in the eight years at Cardiff as I did in the two-year period at Sheffield Wednesday," Harris says.
"It was such a rollercoaster. I went there and started really well, team cohesion and everything was great.
"Before the season started Steve Bruce moved on to Newcastle, Lee Bullen came in and we did alright. Then we got Garry Monk and it started off really well, we were third at Christmas and I was doing well personally.
"Then, shortly after we went through a really bad period, conceded a lot of goals and then changed formation and I changed to a wing-back. From that point, my personal performances were not as good as they had been. I wasn't as consistent."
The Owls never recaptured the form they had in Harris' first few months at the club and the following season and a half saw a slow decline into eventual relegation to League One.
"We were losing games so I was defending quite a bit and not giving as much going forward from that point onwards. For a year and a half I was a wing-back," he says of his time at Hillsborough.
"We were losing games and fans are fickle, so the fans who were fans of me at the beginning went the other way. It's nothing personal, though. I knew it was coming and it did come.
"The club were looking like they were going to get relegated and then we parted ways. But it was another really good club and I enjoyed my time there, especially the first half of the first season, it was great for me and a great changing room."
For Harris, it was another chance to reignite his career. He very nearly signed for Reading, having trained there for almost a month last summer, however transfer embargoes and other such roadblocks eventually kiboshed a deal, much to the player's frustration.
That is when the opportunity to join Metalist Kharkiv presented itself and Harris jumped at the chance.
"When I retire I want to be able to say I played in the Premier League, been part of a team that got promoted to the Premier League, reached Europe and played in Europe," he says.
"This pathway seemed the most likely way for me to do that."
He has already checked off two of the above from his bucket list with Cardiff, of course, and will always have a strong affinity for the club.
He says he still keeps tabs on the Bluebirds' situation and hopes that better things are just around the corner. "Hopefully they can get back to the level of fighting for promotion," he says, with a smile.
"Maybe not this season, with what's gone on so far, but next season they could get back to being real contenders."
He does have one regret about his time at Cardiff, though, that he never got to thank the fans for their passionate support for such a long time.
It is time, he says, to put the record straight.
"I just want to say a massive thank you. You would have had to have been patient with me, because I was in and out and my time there was sporadic in terms of appearances," he said.
"Thank you for the support, it really meant a lot at the time, it didn't go unnoticed.
"As much as fans don't see players up close and personal, I really did feel the love, even if I didn't show it. Now is the time to say a huge thanks and I wish you all the best in the future."
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