In wartime Ukraine, soccer fans bury rivalries, find calm at Premier League matches

At soccer games in Ukraine, crowd sizes are determined by the capacity of the nearest bomb shelter.

For the first time since the full-scale war began in 2022, the Ukrainian Premier League is holding a full season with fans present, as martial law bans on public gatherings have been eased.

Despite the constant threat of airstrikes, Dynamo Kyiv supporters eagerly snap up the 1,700 tickets available for each home game at the 16,000-seat Valeriy Lobanovskyi Stadium. Many fans are keen to experience a rare moment of calm, free from the country's traditionally intense sporting rivalries.

While the war forced Dynamo to relocate its home matches in the Europa League to Hamburg, Germany, it uses its home stadium in Kyiv for domestic league matches.

Vitalii Kozubra brought his nine-year-old son Makar to watch Dynamo, a title contender, face mid-table Zorya Luhansk, a club displaced by Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine.

"Even though there's a war going on, this is something people can enjoy together," Kozubra said, noting the friendly atmosphere at the stadium, where Zorya fans mingled with locals.

Makar marvelled at the difference between watching a game in person and on television.

As the players took the field, all 22 of them draped in Ukrainian yellow-and-blue flags, the crowd, which included servicemen and families with children, erupted in applause.

The stadium was alive with the sound of players' exertion and the thud of the ball. Children rushed to the touchline for autographs, drawn by the few foreign players from Brazil, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Panama who have chosen to remain despite the war.

Zorya wasn't booed once.

Ukraine's 16-team top-flight league has managed to continue, despite increasing challenges. Matches are