As the first Japanese soccer player to sign for a Ukrainian team, Yasuhiro Kato hopes to give something back to the country he considers his second home as it reels from Russia's invasion of the nation.

Kato, who is now retired, played for FC Hoverla-Zakarpattya Uzhhorod during the 2012-13 season and also spent time at a club in neighboring Poland, which has become the destination for most of the refugees streaming out of Ukraine.

"To me, Russia's war against Ukraine isn't some problem occurring in a distant, foreign country," Kato, 36, said in a recent interview.