Ukraine war: The Kyiv vintage football shop that moved to Manchester

Polina Vynohradova and Serge Shcherbyna have reopened their shop in Manchester

Opening a vintage football shirt shop just as Covid was taking hold across the world might seem enough of a challenge.

But for Polina Vynohradova and Serge Shcherbyna, a global pandemic and lockdowns turned out to be the least of their worries.

The couple's shop was in their hometown of Kyiv in Ukraine, which they were forced to flee in February last year.

They managed to get out of the country the day before Russia launched a full-scale invasion and spent a few months travelling around Europe.

And Serge admits the fate of their shop was the last thing they were worrying about when they closed the doors for the last time.

"We put up a post on Instagram a day before we left saying we are not sure what is going to be happening next," the 29-year-old tells BBC Newsbeat.

"We said we would close for two weeks, little did we know that would be the last day we opened the doors."

More than a year later, the war is still going on, and millions of people have been affected, with homes, public facilities and schools destroyed.

"Our minds were completely focused on the safety of our families and friends. It was not until months later we started thinking of the store," Serge says.

Don't tell King Eric but the couple haven't picked a favourite between the red and blue side of Manchester yet

Polina and Serge sold some of their shirts to pay for somewhere to live around Europe until they eventually found their way to the UK last year under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

"It was very hard and we were a bit lost," Polina, 27, says.

"We didn't know what to do next, with our store or our lives."

But once they were settled in Macclesfield in Cheshire, their thoughts turned back to their vintage football shirts business.

They've now opened Stunner: Vintage Football Store in Manchester city centre and say it's as similar to their Kyiv shop as possible.

"We shipped a lot of stuff over here," Serge says.

"The Eric Cantona rug was the centrepiece of our store in Kyiv, it was sent to us by our friend Josh who makes them in Margate.

"He is one of the first people we reached out to when we moved here, we had all these empty walls."

But it's not just furniture that made it over, some of their old stock from Kyiv has also made it to the new shop.

"Believe it or not, some shirts are that hard to sell that they are with us for like two years," Polina says.

"So they have stayed and almost become a part of the store, we call them artefacts."

Oleksandr Zinchenko (far left) and his team mates draped Ukraine flags around them before they played England in March

Despite choosing Manchester for their base, the couple say they haven't picked United or City as their English team to support - in fact they haven't picked anyone.

"We don't identify as red or blue, we are just fans of the Ukrainian national team," Polina says.

That means the couple will be glued to their TV later when Ukraine taken on Italy in a crucial Euro 2024 qualifying match.

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Ukraine haven't played football on home soil for two years and captain Oleksandr Zinchenko - who plays for Arsenal - has said the players are aware of how important it is for them to give people back home something to smile about.

For Serge, watching his country play football has become extra significant since Russia's invasion.

"Emotionally, it's a different sensation because I was never the type to get too emotional at the national anthem in the beginning," he says.

"But now I just can't help withhold tears because this whole imagery of them going on to the pitch wrapped with flags."

This is how Polina and Serge's shop in Kyiv looked, and they've tried to recreate it with their Manchester shop

While the couple are happy their store is up-and-running in Manchester, they say they do plan to go home one day.

"The end goal will always be to return to Ukraine, this is just something to enjoy for now and we will build while we are here because we cannot just sit still," Serge says.

"It was not our fault we got detached from our homes for such a long period of time. We know many people who came back to Ukraine, regardless of the dangers that exist there currently.

"So that tells you about the devotion we have towards our homeland."

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