Euro 2020: Why Ukraine’s new football kit is causing outrage in Russia

Ukraine’s new kit was unveiled on Sunday (June 6), days before the European Championship kicks off, on the Facebook page of the head of the Football Association of Ukraine, Andriy Pavelko.

The head of the Ukrainian football association has caused outrage in Russia by unveiling a new national team shirt emblazoned with a map of Ukraine that includes Crimea. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Moscow considers the peninsula part of Russia but it is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine. Ukraine’s new kit was unveiled on Sunday (June 6), days before the European Championship kicks off, on the Facebook page of the head of the Football Association of Ukraine, Andriy Pavelko. The front of the yellow shirt shows the borders of Ukraine in white. A slogan at the top of the back reads ‘Glory to Ukraine!’. Inside the shirt is a slogan that declares ‘Glory to the heroes!’ Both phrases are used in Ukraine as an official military greeting. Russian parliamentary deputy Dmitry Svishchev was quoted by Russian news agency RIA as saying the shirt design was “a political provocation”. He said showing a map of Ukraine, “which includes a Russian territory is illegal.”