Ukrainian football team Dynamo Kyiv faced Olympique Lyonnais (OL) in a friendly pre-season match in Bourgogne-Jallieu (Isère) on Tuesday evening. OL won 3-0, while in another match, Lyon Reserves lost 3-1 to Dynamo B.

The Ukrainian diaspora from the Nord-Isère and Lyon region, including nearly 300 refugees from the war in Ukraine, came to support the club in the capital. These refugees have been cared for by several associations in the Lyon and North Isère region for four months.

Before the two meetings scheduled for the evening, Iryna Sadetska, a soloist with the Lviv Choir and a refugee in Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu (Rhône) since March, sang the Ukrainian anthem a cappella. The players then observe a minute’s silence. Every Dynamo player entered the field with a Ukrainian flag on their shoulder.

Dynamo Kyiv, who were 2nd in the league with Shakhtar Donetsk when the competition was suspended in April due to the Russian military invasion of the country, are preparing to face Fenerbahçe Istanbul in the 2nd preliminary round of the Champions League (20). -27 July) with the first leg being played in Poland, not Kiev.

After taking refuge in Romania, the club established its training camp in Switzerland, where it played most of the twelve friendlies it had played since the start of the war, before facing Lyon.

Ukraine’s Minister of Youth and Sports Vadim Kutzeit announced on Monday that the Ukrainian football championship will resume at the end of August. No national champion has been named since last season’s final stop.

Vadim Kutzeit also assured that the matches of the new season will take place on Ukrainian territory, but without spectators and with mandatory respect for the mandated security rules. “During airstrikes, matches are interrupted and football players, coaches and staff have to rush to shelter”said the minister.

Much of the sports infrastructure has been damaged by strikes by Vladimir Putin’s troops and many foreign players have fled Ukrainian territory since the start of the Russian invasion.