EURO mascot road show: Kharkiv

The two UEFA EURO 2012 mascots continued their road show on Friday and Saturday in Kharkiv - their third Ukrainian stop after Lviv and Donetsk.

On Friday the as-yet-unnamed twins were welcomed by Ukrainian tournament director Markiyan Lubkivskyi, Kharkiv mayor Gennadiy Kernes, regional vice-governor Yuriy Sapronov, General Consul of Poland Republic in Kharkiv Ian Granat, as well as Ian Borden, McDonald's Ukraine general director, before being paraded along the streets of the city.

They also helped to anoint the first goalkeeper of the Ukrainian national team, Igor Kutepov, as a new Friend of UEFA EURO 2012. Later they were warmly received by hundreds of orphans and other children in McDonald's restaurant during the charity breakfast and took part in photo sessions.

The following day, the mascots attended the Ukrainian Premier League match between FC Metalist Kharkiv and FC Metalurh Donetsk at the local UEFA EURO 2012 arena, entertained young footballers of Metalist's academy and opened the traditional pre-New Year youth football tournament.

"I was very pleased to see all these smiling faces of Kharkiv citizens when they took photos with the EURO 2012 mascots or met them on the streets during the road show," said director of Kharkiv, UEFA EURO 2012 department, Viktor Khrystoyev. "I saw delight and joy in people's eyes, which means the upcoming tournament makes the whole city tick."

Kyiv will be the next stop on the road show, which ends in Warsaw on 4 December when the mascots' names will be announced.

Naming the mascots
Fans in Poland and Ukraine have been choosing their favourite sets of names for the UEFA EURO 2012 mascots. You can have your say via UEFA.com before the deadline of 3 December, choosing from the following options:
Slavek & Slavko
Siemko & Strimko
Klemek & Ladko

Road show schedule
28-29 November - Kyiv
29 November - Gdansk
4 December - Warsaw (mascots' names revealed)