Eighteen months on from Russia’s full scale military invasion – Ukraine still stands.
There are daily air raids, missile attacks, deaths of soldiers and civilians – but life goes on. Ukrainian football very much embodies this resilience, both on and off the pitch. Over the past year I have been travelling to and from Ukraine to cover the beautiful game’s return amidst the continuing backdrop of war.
Former Glasgow Rangers midfielder Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko told talkSPORT that when war broke out, Ukrainians’ immediate priorities were understandably that of survival and their families’ safety over football. “In my building I gathered together all my children, all my dogs and cats. We were like one big family together. Everyone tried to support one another because we didn’t know what was going to happen tomorrow.”
Ex-FC Desna manager Oleksandr Ryabokon, returned from his club’s warm weather training camp abroad to be closer to his family in Kyiv. Upon arriving back he immediately enlisted with his local territorial defence forces. “There was such distressing information from all fronts,” he said.
“It was clear that it was necessary to return and take up arms.” Ryabokon was not alone in his decision to give up football for the defence of his country either.
In 2014, when Russia first occupied Crimea and the eastern region called the Donbas, all Ukrainian football fans agreed to a unique truce. For almost ten years they have cast aside their club rivalries, in favour of uniting against a larger common enemy – Russia.
This sentiment has only intensified since 2022. It is estimated that over 80 per cent of the country’s fans are fighting in the war. It’s now very common for fans of rivals clubs such as Dynamo and Shakhtar, Dnipro and Metalist to fight shoulder to shoulder in the same battalions or army units. Many call one another ‘brothers’. Those old days of animosity on the terraces seem like ‘another life’ – one Shakhtar supporting soldier told talkSPORT.
Andy Markovets, a Karpaty Lviv fan and landlord of the Cantona Pub in Lviv (dedicated to the Manchester United cult hero) explained how on the day war began punters left their beers half drunk on the bar and headed straight for the frontlines.
Some of those who departed for the battlefield, never returned. Olha Pyasetska’s husband Dmytro was one such soldier. The Dynamo Kyiv fan was killed in August 2022, leaving behind his young family including two children, aged four and seven.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Olha emotionally admitted that life has been extremely difficult without him. “The whole world that you believed in is blown apart in seconds, the feeling gets worse and telling the kids is the worst thing.”
However, despite the unimaginable pain, Olha has been aided through her grief by the football fan community. She now counts friends of her husband’s, that she had only got know after his death, as her ‘brothers’ due to their assistance.
Another initiative that has aided Olha and many others is Stands of Heroes, a charity foundation that supports the families of football fans who have lost loved ones in the war. One of the co-founders, Dmytro Kukuruza, shared with talkSPORT that the foundation’s main objectives are to provide financial and legal support for the families left behind and to set up a community in order to honour the football fans that have died.
Among the charity’s regular donors are footballing icon Andriy Shevchenko, ex Spurs and West Ham forward Serhiy Rebrov and Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko. Olha is extremely grateful for SoH’s support and in particular praises their social events where she is able to meet with fellow widows or grieving family members and discuss their shared experiences. During these meetings, guests such as Shevchenko and players from Dynamo Kyiv pay visits to hear the stories of the fallen and provide unforgettable memories for the children.
Zinchenko shares the sentiment that those who defend Ukraine in the trenches are ‘true heroes’. As a result of the daily horrors his compatriots experience, he admits he has now become rather weathered to the realities of war.
“I think it’s now so difficult to surprise me in a bad way,” he told talkSPORT. “I’d say because the things which I saw, the things that I heard from the people, the real stories. I think I have no emotions inside myself. Maybe you saw some of the press conferences before in the past where I couldn’t hold my emotions and my tears. Maybe because I’m that sensitive person, I don’t know, but I’m just trying to live these kinds of moments with the people who are struggling, trying to survive.”
After months of intricate planning and negotiations, the Ukrainian Premier League returned in August 2022 and successfully completed the 22/23 season in May of this year with no fans allowed and under strict security protocols.
Zinchenko is extremely proud of his people’s resilience and in particular of his fellow players, who still play in Ukraine. “During this war time, we still carry on in all directions.
“We are still playing football, even with the sirens because people don’t realise that the game is usually around 90 minutes with extra time but in Ukraine the game could be like three hours because if suddenly there will be a siren during the game everyone must go to the bunker and wait until the siren is done. So you go 1v1 with the keeper and suddenly there’s a siren and you have to hide inside and then you have to wait until it’s done.”
At the start of November, Dnipro-1 v Oleksandriya took more than four and a half hours to complete as a result of three air raid interruptions. It kicked off at 5pm and ended up finishing close to 10pm. It is the longest match in the country’s history… for now!
In spite of the war, football keeps striving forward. The leagues continue. Clubs are rebuilding. Talents are developing. Fans keep fighting so all of that can remain possible. Live on. Fight on. Play on.
‘Play on! – How Football returned to War-torn Ukraine’, a talkSPORT documentary, featuring interviews with Shevchenko and Zinchenko, will be broadcast on Sunday at 9pm. You can listen to the podcast now here.