Manchester City footballer Zinchenko shows support for Ukraine in nighttime vigil

Manchester City footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko joined hundreds of Ukrainians in St Peter's Square in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of the country.

The gathered crowd sang the Ukrainian national anthem and speeches were delivered to the crowd in both Ukrainian and Russian languages.

Manchester City council lit the central library in blue and yellow, the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

Zinchenko was forced to leave Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk due to the war in 2014.

Donetsk is now one of the regions Vladimir Putin recognised as an independent state earlier this week.

Zinchenko has now made his Instagram account private after seemingly making a controversial post about Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Zinchenko is not the only Premier League footballer to use their platform. Everton player Vitalii Mykolenko also took to Instagram to ask "the whole world to help my homeland."

Everton confirmed they will give Mykolenko all the support following the invasion.

The defender is understood to have not requested anything from the Toffees so far.