Traditionally for trips to Europe during wartime, the blue-and-yellow team began their journey by boarding a train at the central station the evening before.

Before leaving, head coach of the blue-and-yellow team Serhiy Rebrov and the players met with children from Kyiv's Lokomotiv youth team in the children’s room at Central Station. The boys had a chance to ask questions of those they aspire to be like. The most interested were in the answers given by top scorer of the Ukrainian Premier League, Artem Dovbik. There were also questions for Mykola Matvienko, Illia Zabarny, Georgiy Bushchan, Yurym Konoplyanok and others. The kids asked relevant questions: how do trainings in England differ from those in Ukraine, against which club was it the hardest to play, at what age did you decide to become a professional player...

Photos by Pavel Kubanov

After a group photo and autograph session, the players boarded directly onto the train of Ukrainian Railways. From Kyiv to the Polish town of Chelm traveled players from Ukrainian clubs as well as defender Illia Zabarny of English Bournemouth who, after completing his club season, not only returned home but also changed his social status.

Photos by Pavel Kubanov

Today in the evening, from Chelm, the national team traveled by bus to Frederic Chopin Airport in Warsaw and then flew to their first location for the June gathering – Bremen.

Photos by Pavel Kubanov

In the Polish capital, two foreign-based players joined the group – newly crowned champion of Poland Vladyslav Kochergin from Raciborz and Vitaliy Mykolenko of English Everton. The rest of the players who play abroad will join directly in Bremen.

Photos by Pavel Kubanov

The blue-and-yellow team arrived in Germany at 3.30 pm local time and checked into the hotel at 4.15 pm. The journey from Kyiv took a total of 23 hours! Considering the long and exhausting trip, the coaching staff decided to conduct stretching exercises for recovery today in the hotel. The first training session under new coach Serhiy Rebrov will take place tomorrow on the pitch of Bremen's Werder football center.

Squad of Ukraine National Team

Goalkeepers: Georgiy Bushchan («Dynamo» Kyiv), Anatoliy Trubin («Shakhtar» Donetsk), Andriy Lunin («Real Madrid», Spain).

Defenders: Mykola Matvienko, Valeriy Bondar, Yurym Konoplyanok (all — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Oleksandr Tymchyk («Dynamo» Kyiv), Oleksandr Svytok (SK «Dnipro-1» Dnipropetrovsk), Vitaliy Mykolenko («Everton» Liverpool, England), Illia Zabarny («Bournemouth», England), Eduard Sobolev («Strasbourg», France), Serhiy Krivtsov («Inter Miami», USA).

Midfielders: Taras Stepanenko, Oleksandr Zubkov, Georgiy Sudakov (all — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Serhiy Sydorchuk, Vitaliy Buyalskyi (both — «Dynamo» Kyiv), Oleksandr Pichalenko (SK «Dnipro-1» Dnipropetrovsk), Andriy Yarmolenko («Al-Ain», UAE), Ruslan Malinovskiy («Olympique Marseille», France), Viktor Tsygankov («Girona», Spain), Mykhailo Mudryk («Chelsea» London, England), Danylo Iantchenko («Bordeaux», France), Vladyslav Kochergin («Raciborz» Czestochowa, Poland).

Forwards: Artem Dovbik (SK «Dnipro-1» Dnipropetrovsk), Vladyslav Vanat («Dynamo» Kyiv), Nazariy Rusin («Zorya» Luhansk).

Oleksandr Hlyvinets, press secretary of the national team