UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-FOOTBALL

A volunteer of Espanola special force unit, a detachment of Russian football hooligans, guards at the football stadium in Mariupol on June 22, 2023, a former base of Ukrainian nationalist Azov battalion, as a flag reads: "Russian and Serbs - Brothers Forever!'. At the main football stadium in Moscow-controlled Mariupol, stickers of the local Ukrainian team are still visible, but armed football ultras from Russia now patrol the stands. A year after the port city fell to Moscow following a brutal siege, the stadium has a huge banner that reads "GLORY TO RUSSIA", with a Russian and Soviet flag flying over it. It has been covered in symbols of Russian football clubs -- from Moscow's CSKA to Saint Petersburg's Zenit. They were mostly brought here by football ultras who formed a fighting unit -- the "Espanola" -- to join Moscow's offensive. Based in Mariupol, they train on wild beaches on the Azov Sea outside the vastly destroyed city. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY "Russian ultras set aside soccer skirmishes to fight for Moscow" BY ANDREY BORODULIN (Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images)