In the current season, Oleksandr Chizhevsky's protégés are aiming to rewrite history and challenge for a higher class placement. So far, they have secured eight consecutive victories — notably, all with a one-goal margin. In the latest round, their opponents were defeated by Metallist thanks to Oleg Linya's goal as a substitute — 1:0.

The team from Volochysk has secured first place in Group A because their main pursuers, Epitsentr and Bukovyna, lost valuable points at home. The Chernivtsi-based team could not overcome the resistance of Prykarpattia (0:0), and head coach Valeriy Krivenkov said after the final whistle that his protégés really wanted to win and make a gift to their city's day, but it did not happen. Bukovynians had possession, but were again helpless in attack. Perhaps, now the club management regrets refusing the services of last season's top scorer in the first league, Vasyl Palagnyuk, who was also the last local footballer on a contract with the team.

In Group B, Metalist 1925 continues to disappoint its supporters. The arrival of new manager Patrick van Leuven has not improved their play. In the latest round, Kharkiv residents opened the score in their match against Mariupol thanks to efforts by foreign player Ari Moury on the 41st minute, but immediately after halftime Dmitro Pantelychuk equalized — 1:1. Again, attackers Oleksiy Sydorov and Andriy Borychuk showed nothing.

At the start of the season, changes occurred on the coaching staff at Metallurg. After three consecutive losses, Volodymyr Shapovalov stepped down. The head coach is now Illia Blyznyuk, who already led metallurgs in 2016. However, in the ninth round, under Blyznyk's command, Zaporizhzhya did not play because their match against Krym was postponed due to prolonged air raid alerts.

Results and standings tables