'Nothing will stop them': Girls' football near Ukraine front | The Express Tribune
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UKRAINE: On an icy morning in southern Ukraine, football coach Vyacheslav Rol shouts to his team over the sound of distant explosions: "Everybody on the bus!" A group of girls aged between nine and 11 pile in. Krystal Kherson were headed for a competition in Mykolaiv, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) west of Kherson, their hometown near the southern frontline that is shelled by Russian forces almost daily. "The training is good for them," the 67-year-old coach told AFP. "They forget about the bombs," he said. Russian forces occupied Kherson city for eight months last year. It was recaptured by Ukrainian troops last November but the city still sits near the frontline. As the bus passed through war-ravaged countryside, the team intoned a popular local song to keep their spirits up: "Kherson, I dream of you at night!". During the journey, deputy coach Igor Psurtyev recounted how he went around the empty, devastated city during the...