Ben Davies praised Ukraine for the way they overcame adversity to book their place in the World Cup play-off final.
Wales host Oleksandr Petrakov's side in Cardiff on Sunday with a place in this year's World Cup at stake. It comes after Ukraine defeated Scotland 3-1 at Hampden Park on Wednesday night in what was their first competitive fixture since November owing to Russia's invasion of their country.
And Davies was quick to highlight the attitude of Man City star Oleksandr Zinchenko during what has been a devastating period for the country of Ukraine.
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"We are well aware of the situation that Ukraine is in right now, and it must be incredibly tough to be in their shoes," said the Wales ace. "But as far as we are concerned, we have just to focus on what is ahead of us.
"Football can kind of seem a bit insignificant in these times and moments, and it is very difficult to try and rationalise that a game is so important when you've got such major events going on the world. As you can see what it meant to them the other day, they are as desperate to win this game as we are.
"We think we are very lucky in the sense that we don't have to see how tough it is every single day or how difficult it must be for them to have their lives uprooted. You have to just credit their players for the way they have handled it so far.
"The way that Zinchenko has handled it all in the media is a real credit to him, and he has shown what a stand-out man he is."
Ukraine's class and quality was fully on show as they earned victory over Scotland this week. Premier League stars Zinchenko, Andriy Yarmolenko and Vitaliy Mykolenko all shone in Glasgow as Steve Clarke's men were ruthlessly dispatched on home soil.
Having seen the Scots suffer a gut-wrenching loss, Wales once again find themselves in an 'us against the world' situation having been in a similar position just shy of 12 months ago when they took on Denmark at Euro 2020 after Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest. Rob Page's men are nothing short of formidable on their own patch though having gone unbeaten in their previous 18 games at home.
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And Tottenham defender Davies is fully confident that Wales can do the business in front of a packed Cardiff City Stadium this weekend. "We know it will be an emotional event, and a lot of people will be wanting some good news for Ukraine, but we have to try and stay out of that and focus on 90 minutes of football," he said.
"A lot of their players are playing at the top level in Europe, and we know the quality we are up against. We have also been here before against top players, so the next few days are about preparing, then we are ready for the challenge.
“They want to win the game just as we do. The situation outside of that is away from football. It isn’t the 90 minutes on the pitch. There’s a big desire on us to win.
“I think before the game and in the build up our fans have been amazing with the opposition. There’s a big element of respect but when the first ball is kicked I’m sure they’ll be right behind us."
Kick-off in Cardiff is at 5pm on Sunday.
