Up to four fighters and two helicopters will permanently guard guests and participants during the Euro 2012 European Football Championship, according to Director of Operations - Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, Major-General Viktor Hamora.

WARSAW, Poland — Warsaw's mayor says all security concerns have been addressed and the stadium that will host the opening match of this year's European Championship is ready to stage its first game.

Since Ukraine was awarded the Euro 2012 soccer championship five years ago, one question has concerned organizers more than most others: accommodation.

Up until recently, getting from Kyiv’s Boryspil airport to the center of town involved running the gauntlet of over-enthusiastic taxi hawkers or taking a cramped, irregular, Soviet-era bus.

It’s been a long – and still ongoing – battle for France to regain its old authority since its disastrous World Cup in 2010, which was marked by arguments, a player strike and poor performances.

The Kyiv Post chatted with Loic Tregoures over Skype about the French football team’s prospects in the upcoming Euro 2012 soccer championship that’s coming to Ukraine in Poland for three weeks in June.
Tregoures writes for the French version of Eurosport, lectures at a university in Lille and follows football in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

Thibaut Potdevin

Nationality: French

Age: 35

Length of time in Ukraine: 1.5 years

Position: Commercial manager in Ukraine for the Union of European Football Associations.

Tips for succeeding in Ukraine: Don’t compromise on standards of quality that you would expect in Western European countries. You need to search and challenge partners and suppliers a bit more because, in the end, there are a lot talented people willing to deliver to the same standards that you would get anywhere else in the world.

The Ukrainian Agribusiness Club Association, with the assistance of the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry, has launched a national competition "Taste, Country!" for the promotion of Ukrainian national cuisine before the Euro 2012 European Football Championship for guests of the championship and Ukrainians.