Euro 2020: The Ukraine Football Association has caused an outrage in Russia for unveiling the national team’s jersey with a map of Ukraine that includes Crimea. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 as Moscow considers the peninsula part of Russia. However, Moscow’s claims do not have international approval and the UN considers it part of Ukraine.
Days before the Euro 2020 kicks off, Ukraine’s new jersey was unveiled on Sunday on the Facebook page of the head of the Football Association of Ukraine, Andriy Pavelko. The front of the yellow jersey shows the borders of Ukraine in white with a slogan at the top of the back that reads “Glory to Ukraine!”. Inside the shirt is a slogan that says “Glory to the heroes!” Both phrases are used in Ukraine as an official military greeting.
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The jersey drew a strong reaction in Russia with the Russian parliamentary deputy Dmitry Svishchev calling it a “political provocation”. He told Russian news agency RIA that “showing a map of Ukraine which includes a Russian territory is illegal.”
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on social media that the slogans on the shirts were nationalistic and that the slogan “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!” echoed a German Nazi rallying cry.
Relations between Moscow and Kyiv deteriorated sharply after the annexation of Crimea and the start of a Russian-backed separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
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Ukraine will play their opening Euro 2020 match against the Netherlands on June 13 in Amsterdam. They also face Austria and North Macedonia in Group C. Russia are in Group B and will begin their campaign against Belgium in St Petersburg on June 12. They also face Denmark and Finland in Group B.
Ukraine Euro 2020 squad:
Goalkeepers: Georgiy Bushchan (Dynamo Kyiv), Andriy Pyatov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Anatolii Trubin (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Defenders: Oleksandr Karavaev (Dynamo Kyiv), Serhiy Kryvtsov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Mykola Matviyenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Vitaliy Mykolenko (Dynamo Kyiv), Denys Popov (Dynamo Kyiv), Eduard Sobol (Club Brugge), Oleksandr Tymchyk (Dynamo Kyiv), Illia Zabarnyi (Dynamo Kyiv), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Manchester City)
Midfielders: Roman Bezus (Gent), Yevhen Makarenko (Kortrijk), Ruslan Malinovskyi (Atalanta), Marlos (Shakhtar Donetsk), Mykola Shaparenko (Dynamo Kyiv), Taras Stepanenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Heorhii Sudakov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Serhiy Sydorchuk (Dynamo Kyiv), Viktor Tsygankov (Dynamo Kyiv)
Forwards: Artem Besedin (Dynamo Kyiv), Artem Dovbyk (Dnipro-1), Roman Yaremchuk (Gent), Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham), Oleksandr Zubkov (Ferencváros)
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