Russia-Ukraine: Vitaliy Mykolenko will start for Everton in FA Cup against Boreham Wood

Everton's Ukrainian defender Vitaliy Mykolenko will start against Boreham Wood in their FA Cup clash on Thursday amid the crisis in his native country.

The Premier League showed their support for Ukraine at the weekend, with Mykolenko and Oleksandr Zinchenko - who among their team-mates walked out with Ukraine flags draped around them - embraced prior to Saturday's Premier League match between the Toffees and Manchester City.

Mykolenko was an unused substitute in their 1-0 defeat by the reigning champions but Everton manager Lampard revealed the 22-year-old will start against Boreham Wood on Thursday.

'He will play tomorrow. That was a decision I'd made regardless of the outside situation,' he said when speaking to the press on Wednesday.

'You have to be aware of the life decision for him in the moment. He's starting the game.

'The conversations I've had, I'd rather keep quiet because they are delicate. He's a new player here, he has all our support.'

Mykolenko has launched a blistering attack on the Russian national team for their silence since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine last Thursday in what it called a special operation to demilitarise and 'denazify' the country - a justification dismissed by Kyiv and the West as propaganda.

Mykolenko spoke out against his Russian counterparts. In a post on Instagram, the 22-year-old slammed Russia captain Artem Dzyuba and his 's***head team-mates' for not speaking out against Putin's invasion, claiming they will be 'locked away in a dungeon for the rest of your life'.

'Whilst you remain silent b**** along with your s***head football team-mates, peaceful civilians are being killed in Ukraine,' Mykolenko - who joined Everton in January from Dynamo Kyiv - posted.

'You will be locked in your dungeon for the rest of your life and most importantly the lives of your kids. And I'm glad.'

It comes after Dzyuba and his men were kicked out of the Qatar World Cup by FIFA, with Poland given a bye to a play-off final against Sweden or Czech Republic later this month.

FIFA had appeared reluctant to expel Russia from the World Cup given president Gianni Infantino's close links to Vladimir Putin but on Sunday they made it clear that they would be guided by the IOC — and that the sporting world should be united in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Zinchenko and Mykolenko are among a number of Ukrainian footballers to have united in a passionate video plea to urge fans, players and coaches to 'stop the destruction and bloodshed' in their homeland following Russia's devastating invasion.

The players, also including West Ham forward Andriy Yarmolenko, have filmed themselves speaking into the camera to deliver a message they hope will bring about the end of the war.

Everton suspended with immediate effect all commercial and sponsorship arrangements with Russian companies earlier on Wednesday.

USM, Megafon and Yota are all linked to Alisher Usmanov, an oligarch with links to Vladimir Putin. Usmanov, who was born in Uzbekistan but is a Russian citizen, is not on the Goodison Park board nor is he involved in the running of the club.

He is a business partner of Everton's majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, the pair's relationship dating back to before the Iranian billionaire took a controlling stake in the club in February 2016. Moshiri is yet to make any comment about the situation.

But Everton – who made clear their anti-war stance before Saturday's 1-1 draw with Manchester City – are aware of the scrutiny they are under and have put a stop to their links with the three companies that Usmanov has stakes in.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia is trying to erase Ukraine and its people as Vladimir Putin's invasion entered its seventh day today with renewed attacks on all fronts including an expected assault on the city which houses Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

Zelensky, who has become a symbol of Ukrainian defiance and courage since the war began, told his people today that Russians 'know nothing about our capital. About our history. But they have an order to erase our history. Erase our country. Erase us all.'

The president, unshaven and wearing a military-style khaki T-shirt, said the West's response was not enough, calling for more international support, including backing Ukraine's bid to join the European Union. 'This is no time to be neutral,' he added.

As he spoke, troops were preparing barricades to defend the city of Zaporizhzhia - including setting up defences around the reactors of Energodar power plant. Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine's interior ministry, called on generals to bypass the city while warning they could create a 'new Chernobyl' if the plant is damaged.

'Because of Putin's madness, Europe is again on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe,' he wrote on Facebook. 'The city where the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is located is preparing for a battle with the invaders.

'An accident can happen like at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant or the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Russian generals - think again! Radiation does not know nationalities, does not spare anyone!'