A meeting took place at the Football House in Kyiv with head coach of Ukraine's national team Oleksandr Petrakov, dedicated to the future training camp in Slovenia and preparation for the playoff matches of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and Nations League.

— Oleksandre Vasylovych, what is the current situation regarding the arrival date of Dynamo Kyiv players to the training camp?

— Mircea Lucescu called me: "The boys under my supervision will play 45 minutes and then come to you." I thought about it and decided to let them go. They will play against Basel on the 4th, and I assume they'll be there by the 5th. This is my decision in such a tight schedule. Let's hope this works out for us.

— Are you satisfied with the location of the national team's upcoming training camp?

— UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin helped us a lot in these difficult times. The base there is new, and the fields are nearby. It’s 40 km from Ljubljana and 10 km from the airport. All conditions are perfect for preparing for matches. On May 30th, we can fly straight to Scotland from Ljubljana.

— There was an option for Ukraine's national team to play a friendly match against England before the Scotland game...

— Yes, I asked them to offer this to the English team. But Gareth Southgate is assembling his squad on May 30th. We clearly won't fit into their schedule, so there will be no match. I requested a contact with Northern Ireland. Their league ends earlier... We are looking for options now to play on May 26th. All our foreign-based players will gather then.

— There is also the issue of home matches in June's Nations League against Ireland and Armenia. Can you say if this initiative came from the coaching staff, to play them in Poland?

— This is an initiative by UAF President Andriy Pyvovar in case it’s not possible to hold these matches in Ukraine due to the war situation. He talked with the head of the Polish Football Association. I agreed. Poland has been lucky for me! In 2019, we played there in Łódź in the World Cup final. We could even play on those same stadiums that accommodate up to 15-18 thousand people. They are small, and Ukrainians will come to cheer us.

List of players called up from Ukrainian clubs

Goalkeepers: Georgiy Bushchan ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Andriy Pyatov, Anatoliy Trubin (both — "Shakhtar" Donetsk), Dmytro Ryznyk ("Vorskla" Poltava).

Defenders: Oleksandr Karavayev, Illia Zabarnyi, Oleksandr Syrota, Denys Popov (all — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Mykhailo Matviienko, Serhiy Krivoshtchok, Viktor Kornienko, Valeriy Bondar, Yurym Konoplia (all — "Shakhtar" Donetsk).

Midfielders: Taras Stepanenko, Mykhailo Mudryk (both — "Shakhtar" Donetsk), Serhiy Sydorchuk, Viktor Tsygankov, Mykhailo Shaparenko, Vitaliy Buyalskyi, Denys Harmash (all — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Serhiy Butsa ("Zorya" Luhansk), Oleksandr Piatovonok, Oleksii Hutsulyak (both — SK "Dnipro-1").

Forwards: Artem Dovbyk (SK "Dnipro-1"), Artem Besedin ("Dynamo" Kyiv).