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Pitbull, a volunteer of Espanola special force unit, a detachment of Russian football hooligans, stands at a training field during a session in undisclosed location outside Mariupol on June 22, 2023. At the main football stadium in Moscow-controlled Mariupol, stickers of the local Ukrainian team are still visible, but armed football ultras from Russia now patrol the stands. A year after the port city fell to Moscow following a brutal siege, the stadium has a huge banner that reads “GLORY TO RUSSIA”, with a Russian and Soviet flag flying over it. It has been covered in symbols of Russian football clubs – from Moscow's CSKA to Saint Petersburg's Zenit. They were mostly brought here by football ultras who formed a fighting unit – the “Espanola” – to join Moscow's offensive. Based in Mariupol, they train on wild beaches on the Azov Sea outside the vastly destroyed city. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)
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