Taras Stepanenko has played more than 200 times for the Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk, but Tuesday’s match will be the first that could be interrupted by air raids.

The game in Kyiv, between Shakhtar and FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv, will kick off the 2022-23 Ukrainian Premier League (UPL) season, and the 33-year-old midfielder, who has more than 70 caps for the national team, says that, despite the threats, he hopes football can give people some respite from the relentless news of death and destruction.

“When I play football, I don’t think about the war,” Stepanenko told Al Jazeera from Kyiv. “We should [play] for our country. It’s our obligation.”

The games will be played behind closed doors and amid heavy security, mostly in stadiums in Kyiv and the west of the country, far from the front lines.

But officials have warned that Russia could intensify its attacks across the country this week, as Ukraine marks the six-month anniversary of the war and the country’s Independence Day on Wednesday.

Stepanenko says the players are defiant.

“I think sport can help Ukraine tell our story to the world, and in Ukraine we can make people feel good,” he said. “For us now it’s very important.”

Read the rest of the article published by Al Jazeera English here.