The situation before the start of a new season in the second league of the Ukrainian championship due to the Russian aggressor's invasion is characterized by uncertainty regarding the number of participants.

Since in the new season, a whole series of second-league teams plan to try their strength in the first league, then problems with the number of participating teams have quite predictably arisen for organizers.

According to President of the PFL Oleksandr Kadenko, only 12 clubs have expressed their desire to start playing in the second league championship as of today.

In some FCs after the beginning of Russia's full-scale aggression, financial problems arose, and others found themselves on temporarily occupied territory. That is why it is difficult to say who among the participants will claim promotion to a higher class.

Quite unexpectedly, ambitious Kyiv-based "Left Bank" decided to take a break from professional play. And in Vinnytsia's "Niva", cooperation with head coach Igor Leonov and his assistant Mikhail Starostyak has been suspended — primarily because other priorities have emerged during the wartime status, and now for Vinnytsians the main question is simply staying afloat.

A similar situation exists with another famous team — Chernivtsi's "Bukovyna", whose sporting honor will be defended in the new season mainly by local football graduates.

By the way, two representatives of the first division AAFU are expected to debut in the second league. These are "Niva" from Buzova, which is in Kyiv region, and FC "VAST" from Mykolaiv. These teams are well-staffed and have shown themselves quite well at an amateur level, so experts believe they are ready for trials among the masters.

However, long-awaited Mykolaiv derby will not take place in the near future, as FC "Mykolaiv" has decided to suspend its participation in the championship due to various reasons.