Ukraine making up for lost time

WITH 188 days to go to the kick off of the European Championships, it’s now more a case of pretty vacant than anarchy in the Ukraine, as the co-hosts look to follow a major renovation project with some running repairs to their public image.

Eighteen months ago, UEFA were so worried about the country’s preparations for the finals that Michel Platini gave Ukraine an ultimatum — get your stadia and related infrastructure up to scratch, or you could be in danger of losing the finals altogether.

The local organisers, to their credit, have done that and more, but the perception that the former Soviet republic is still the poor relation to co-hosts Poland hasn’t gone away. Yesterday in Kiev, even as praise was being heaped on Ukraine’s “95% readiness” for next summer, a senior UEFA official was forced to acknowledge that, of the 16 competing nations in the finals, at most five countries — including Ukraine itself — and possibly as few as three, will make their bases in the country.