Kyiv, Feb 25 (IANS) With the Russian troops assumed to be moving closer to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, following the frightening invasion on Thursday, Kobus Olivier, a South African serving as the CEO of the Ukraine Cricket Federation, admitted that the situation in the city has been very frightening. Apart from being the CEO, Olivier also has International Relations, Senior & Junior High Performance, Junior & Women's Pathway under himself as per the official website of the federation. Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Here’s How the Russian Attack on Ukraine Left an Impact on Sports

"It is quite scary. They have surrounded Kyiv. Some of my South African mates in our WhatsApp group say soldiers have gone past their apartments. They don't know if it's Ukrainians or Russians," said Olivier to KFM Mornings on Friday, a radio station in South Africa.

Olivier said the airport at Kyiv, which was targeted on Thursday, had been evacuated. "I was walking my dog at 5 am this morning and I just heard a huge explosion. It sounded like it was right next to me, and I gathered from what I heard later on that they took out strategic targets here with missiles. They have evacuated everyone (from the airport) there is no staff (left) or anything. But I heard that they shot missiles at three airports here."

Olivier played 16 years of professional cricket in the United Kingdom and served as CEO of Kenya Cricket. He was also the head coach of National Youth Cricket Teams for the Netherlands and was Director of Cricket at the University of Cape Town.

A Level 3 coach, Olivier has also worked in establishing two cricket academies in Dubai, including being Director of Cricket at the Gen-Next Cricket Academy in partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin and Gen-Next cricket academy in Chennai.

After his stint in Dubai, Olivier took up an opportunity as an English teacher at a private school in Kyiv around 2018 while working with Ukraine Cricket Federation. Olivier remarked that there was huge traffic on the roads at Kyiv as people were trying to leave the city.

"No one here, wants to go back to the (Soviet Union) kind of life. Kyiv is a good city and the people here live a good life and they are incredibly proud to be Ukrainians. It's only around the Crimea area where there is a lot of pro-Russians there. But in the rest of Ukraine, especially in Kyiv, they speak Russian but they don't like Russia," concluded Olivier.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 25, 2022 09:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).