During wartime, the journey of the blue-and-yellow team to a training camp was expected to be much longer than under normal circumstances, when almost any destination in Europe can be reached by plane within two or three hours.

This time, the bus carrying Ukraine's national team with head coach Oleksandr Petrakov departed early Saturday morning from the House of Football to arrive at the Ukrainian-Hungarian border by evening. After spending a night near Uzhhorod, the blue-and-yellow team arrived at the border crossing point.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

The national team was accompanied to the border by President of the Ukrainian Football Association Andriy Pavelko, who visited frontline Kramatorsk on a working trip the day before along with First Vice-President of the UAF Vadim Kostyuchenko. It's worth mentioning two football legends and current first vice-presidents of the UAF, Oleg Protsasov and Anatoli Demianenko: the former accompanied the team to the border, while the latter traveled with the squad to Slovenia as the sole representative of the association's leadership. As known, Anatolii Vasyl'ovich's age allows him to leave the country without additional approval.

Andriy Pavelko wished the coaches, players, and staff of the national team fruitful work, emphasizing that all of Ukraine will be watching the decisive matches of the blue-and-yellow in June with great anticipation. The head of UAF remains in Ukraine throughout the war.

After crossing the border, the bus carrying the national team covered another 800 km. Pleasant company on our team's way to Slovenia was sunny weather. In early May in Europe, one can already feel almost summer warmth: temperatures exceed 20 degrees Celsius. Only after entering Slovenia, which is located at a higher altitude, it started to get noticeably colder, and the last 100 km of the road were traveled under rain — the temperature dropped to 14 degrees.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

The national team arrived at the training center in Brdo, which is 40 km from Slovenia's capital Ljubljana, around 9:20 PM Central European Time. The blue-and-yellow are accommodated in the Elegans hotel, located 700 meters away from the training center and will be their home for May. Among those who arrived by bus from Ukraine were four footballers — Dmytro Riznyk, Oleksandr Pikhalyonok, Serhiy Buletsa, and Oleksii Hushchylak.

Tonight, seven players of the Donetsk 'Shakhtar' will join the camp after their team's 3-3 draw in a charity match against Croatian Hajduk Split: Andriy Pyatov, Anatoliy Trubin, Taras Stepanenko, Mykola Matviyenko, Valeriy Bondar, Yurym Konoplia, and Mykhailo Mudryk.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

Unfortunately, Viktor Kornienko suffered a minor muscle injury during the mentioned match that requires treatment. By agreement between medical staff of the national team and FC 'Shakhtar', Viktor will remain under club doctors' care.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Mudryk, who experienced a muscle spasm during today's game, is traveling to Slovenia with other Donetsk players. Doctors from the national team will conduct an examination of the player on-site and determine the severity of the issue, which currently does not seem serious.

As a reminder, Serhiy Krivtsov is undergoing rehabilitation after a fibula fracture and cannot join his teammates at this time.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

On May 5, ten players from 'Dynamo' will join the camp after their charity match against Swiss Basel earlier in the day. Also joining is Dnipro-1's forward Artem Dovbik, who is currently temporarily stationed with Kyiv-based Dynamo. After this, all called-up players from Ukrainian clubs whose functional conditions allow them to train will gather in Brdo. The list of foreign league players called up for the national team will be announced later.

Alexander Glyvinskyi, press secretary of Ukraine's national team

List of Players Called Up from Ukrainian Clubs

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

Defenders: Oleksandr Karavayev, Illia Zabarnyi, Oleksandr Syrota, Denys Popov (all — 'Dynamo' Kyiv), Mykola Matviyenko, Serhiy Krivtsov, Viktor Kornienko, Valeriy Bondar, Yurym Konoplia (all — 'Shakhtar' Donetsk).

Midfielders: Taras Stepanenko, Mykhailo Mudryk (both — 'Shakhtar' Donetsk), Serhiy Sidorchuk, Viktor Tsygankov, Mykola Shaparenko, Vitaliy Buyalskyi, Denys Harmash (all — 'Dynamo' Kyiv), Serhiy Buletsa ('Zorya' Luhansk), Oleksandr Pikhalyonok, Oleksii Hushchylak (both — SK 'Dnipro-1').

Forwards: Artem Dovbik (SK 'Dnipro-1'), Artem Besedin ('Dynamo' Kyiv).