Ukrainian football match halts four times by air raid sirens

Rukh Lviv hosted a Ukraine Premier League match to remember against Metallist Kharkiv. 

One of the first Ukrainian football matches to have been played since the league resumed was halted four times due to air raid sirens, The Evening Standard reports.

Rukh Lviv’s players were pictured on Wednesday sheltering in a bunker near their Skif Stadium as they hosted Metalist Kharkiv in the resumed top division.

The Ukrainian Premier League restarted on Tuesday for the first time since Russia invaded the country in February.

The game, which ended in a 1-2 win for Metallist, was the only one of the round’s fixtures to have been affected by the sirens - which the league implemented as a safety measure. All matches are currently being played behind closed doors.

The death toll from the Ukraine train station strike rises to 25.

Football has become a political issue while the war has raged on, with former national team legend Anatoly Tymoshchuk being stripped of his coaching licences for failing to speak against the war from his position at Russian team Zenit St Petersburg.

Ukraine’s record goalscorer Andriy Shevchenko told CNN Sport: "It's very important for the people, for the rest of the world -- we can send the message that Ukraine is there.

"Even if we're at war inside the country, we are going to fight because we want to also live like normal countries, normal lives."

Shakhtar Donetsk kicked off the league with a 0-0 draw against Metalist 1925 Kharkiv - a different but similarly named team to the side that played Lviv. While director of football Darijo Srna lamented a poor result for Shakhtar, he said fans of the 13-time champions were “so happy” to see the resumption of the league.