You're reading: Shevchenko joins Korolevska’s party

Ukrainian football player Andriy Shevchenko has joined Ukraine-Forward! Party led by Natalia Korolevska, the party's press service has told Interfax-Ukraine.

He made such a statement on Saturday, while visiting, along with Korolevska, a boarding school in Volodarka, Kyiv region.

“I want to fulfill myself in politics, share the experience that I gained in Europe and do something for my country. I have decided to join the team of Natalia Korolevska, because Ukraine-Forward! is a party of the future, a party of young leaders, a certain choice between the past and the future. In politics, I’m planning to support the social sphere and sports, because my main motto is ‘a sound mind in a sound body,'” Shevchenko said.

Korolevska, in turn, said that Shevchenko was “a pride of Ukraine.”

“We are grateful to him for his decision to work with our team shoulder to shoulder, a team of a new generation of politicians. Now is the time when we need to work for the country and for the people. He made his choice in favor of the policy of the future, the policy of a new quality. It is a very important choice for us, and I believe that together, as one team, we will do our best to ensure that Ukraine moves forward,” she said.

A source close to the party’s leadership told Interfax-Ukraine that the party’s electoral list and candidates for single-member districts would be approved at a party congress on August 1 and that Shevchenko would be included in the top five.

The parliamentary election campaign in Ukraine will start on July 30. The parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 28, 2012.