Zenit St Petersburg grant Ukraine international Yaroslav Rakitskiy early exit

Ukraine international Yaroslav Rakitskiy has been given permission to leave Zenit St Petersburg with immediate effect.

The defender has spent the last three years with the Russian giants, making a total of 108 appearances in all competitions.

The 32-year-old had been in a position where he had four months left on his contract, leaving him in a position to explore a transfer elsewhere.

However, Zenit announced on Wednesday that they have granted a request from Ratikskiy to leave with immediate effect, a consequence of Russia's invasion of the player's homeland.

Yaroslav Rakitskiy has requested an early end to his contract and this has been agreed by the club.

We sincerely wish all the best to Yaroslav, his friends and his family.

Details: https://t.co/OiaUCPaado pic.twitter.com/RUBE1t0eFZ

— FC Zenit in English✨ (@fczenit_en) March 2, 2022

While Russian clubs were sanctioned by UEFA on Monday, Zenit were eliminated from the Europa League last week.