Ukrainian kids play soccer again in bombed-out stadium

After four months of war, Ukrainian children are now playing soccer in a bombed out stadium outside Kyiv.

In the weeks following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Champion stadium suffered severe damage. Russian forces occupied Irpin and reached the outskirts Ukraine's capital.

Although the walls of the stadium are still covered in bullet holes, much of the debris has been removed and the holes left by mortar bombs have been filled.

Danylo Kysil (26), a coach at the stadium, and director of Olymp Irpin, participated in the clean up.

"We saw the stadium together with the first people to arrive after liberation. It was very dark. After leading a group consisting of about a dozen boys through soccer drills, Kysil said that there was a lot of rubbish and shrapnel.

Kysil answered a question about how he felt welcoming the children back to training. He said that he needed to show the children that everything was okay on the outside so they wouldn't feel his emotional exhaustion.

Denys Voitovych (11) plays in the OlympIrpin midfield and said that he is relieved to be back on the pitch.

He said: "I'm very pleased that we can now play soccer instead of staying at home and playing games and watching stupid videos with the tablet."

Danyilo Rohalskyi, a 11-year-old also said that he enjoyed being with his friends and getting to practice his soccer skills.

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