Italian footballer enlisted in Ukraine, the social announcement: "He is still alive"

The alarm for Ivan Luca Vavassori returns.

The 29-year-old former footballer who went to fight in Ukraine , in the ranks of the international brigades, would have survived a Russian attack on Mariupol with his entire team.

"Ivan's team survived - Vavassori himself reads on social media -. They are trying to return, the problem is that they are surrounded by Russian forces so we don't know when and how long they will have to take". In the attack - concludes the evening message - "there are 5 people dead and 4 injured, but we do not know their names".

The alarm was triggered this morning, again on social media: "We are sorry to inform you - the message - that last night, during the retreat of some wounded in an attack on Mariupol, two convoys were destroyed by the Russian army. In one of perhaps there was also Ivan, together with the 4th Regiment ".

The 29-year-old, born in Russia, was adopted by a Piedmontese couple, Pietro Vavassori, owner of Italsempione, a company in the logistics branch, and Alessandra Sgarella, kidnapped by the 'ndrangheta in 1997 and died in 2011 of an illness.

He played football in Serie C for Legnano, Pro Patria and Bra, also gaining experience in Bolivia, in the Real Santa Cruz team. When the conflict in Ukraine began, he went to fight alongside the Ukrainians, enlisting in the international brigades. In the "Legion of International Defense of Ukraine", he became the "Commander Rome" or "Black Eagle" for the black ribbon around the magazine of his submachine gun, as he recounted on TikTok.

According to the latest information, the Italian "foreign fighters" fighting in Ukraine are less than twenty, probably seventeen: eight with the pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass and nine with the Ukrainians. Among the pro-Russian victims there was also Edy Ongaro , known as "Bonzambo", ultrà of Venice and activist of the social centers of the North East, killed at the end of March. Instead for Russia, the Italians in arms would be 60, of which ten have already returned at home and 11 dead in battle, news that however "does not appear" to Italian intelligence.

(Unioneonline / D)