A banner revealing 182 photos of fallen Ukrainian soldiers who were football fans was shared during the Ukraine-Belgium Euro 2024 match.
Ukraine have been knocked out of the Euro 2024 football tournament at the group stage but the team will hopefully have left a resounding impact on the millions of people following the competition from near and afar.
During their last match against Belgium, supporters held up a portrait of Nazariy Hryntsevich, a fallen Ukrainian soldier and football fan.
Rippling to the vibrations of terrace stomps and reading ‘Peace has a price’, the banner is a stark reminder of the cost of war, as countless Ukrainian lives have been lost to defending their country since it was invaded by Russia on 24 February 2022.
The image of Hryntsevich, codenamed ‘Hrienka’, was generated using artificial intelligence (AI) and the photos of another 182 fallen Ukrainian soldiers that were all known to be avid fans of their local football clubs.
Had circumstances been different, they likely would have been standing in the stalls in person. Instead, their static images echo with poignancy and national resilience.
Nazariy Hryntsevich was a soldier from the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia and a keen supporter of his local football team ‘Nyva’. He spent his 19th birthday protecting Mariupol after the war broke out, then enduring 4 months in Russian captivity before returning to the frontlines.
Alongside his Azov Brigade (a formation of the National Guard of Ukraine) comrades, Hryntsevich founded the Contact-12 unit where he led a platoon of optical observers.
On 6 May 2024, he died in action at the age of just 21.
The UEFA Euro 2024 championship is one of the major events of the summer, bringing a sense of community and playful competitiveness across the continent.
Despite exiting the tournament after a 0-0 draw with Belgium, Ukraine’s participation once again brought to light the nation’s staunch character, and the realities of what its people have, and continue to, endure.
While Europe cheers its football wins, this banner is a prompt to also honour the losses of Ukrainian lives; every joyful moment balanced and allowed through grief for those that aren’t there to share in it.