The former captain of Ukraine's Paralympian football team has filmed a video of himself taking a Molotov cocktail training session - and sent it to his pal in Bolton.
Taras Dutko skippered the side beaten by Russia in both the London 2012 Paralympic final and the 2015 World Cup final at England HQ St George's Park.
In both events, renowned football coach and fellow Ukrainian Gerry Luczka, from Bolton, was the team liaison officer - and built a close relationship with Taras, who is now 40.
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Gerry, 68, who lives in Bromley Cross, is also in daily contact with his own cousin, Walter Luczka who lives in Lviv, close to the Poland border, but also Taras, based in Dnipro.
He told the Manchester Evening News: "I was fortunate to develop a wonderful working relationship with the Ukrainian team.
"Taras is a college lecturer and football coach, but of course, university activities have been suspended since the Russian invasion.
"It's bizarre to think he's gone from being an elite footballer and then coach to teaching people how to make Molotov cocktails.
"He told me he's preparing a nice warm welcome for the neighbours from Russia.
"If Russia takes Ukraine, there will be guerrilla war. They never give in."
Gerry, who was born in Bolton to Ukrainian parents who came to the UK after World War II and speaks the language fluently, said of his homeland: "They are really up for the fight.
"They can hear the hammering Kharkiv [Ukraine's second city] is getting not far away.
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"But they are determined to fight these thugs who are absolutely dismantling their country.
"However, we are not surprised. The Russians committed mass murder in Ukraine in 1936. This is nothing new to us. They can't behave.
"I get really upset, though, and I have to turn off the TV . I've been to Kyiv where there is some beautiful architecture and to see it bombed to smithereens is awful. It's a crime.
