Police in central Kyiv trying to prevent clashes between Ukrainian, Polish football fans

Law enforcers have arrested, and are checking the identities of the young men who were outside the Arsenalna subway station in Kyiv and tried to run away on seeing the police.

"A group of aggressive young men gathered outside the Arsenalna subway station in Kyiv. When law enforcers tried to speak to them, they ran away into the subway," the Kyiv police said on Thursday.

Given the events at Hydropark and suspecting that some of the young men may have been involved in an overnight brawl among football fans, police officers tried to find out from the aggressive group what their intentions and purposes were of staying in the city center. But as the police approached them, the young men ran away and then descended onto the platform at the Arsenalna station.

To make sure none of the passengers gets hurt, the aggressive youths were rounded up and other citizens asked not to go down onto the platform for a while.

The young men are now being gradually taken out of the subway and to local police stations for checking their identities and whether they were involved in the brawl near the Hydropark subway station.

The Kyiv police said earlier that a brawl involving about 50 men had occurred outside the Hydropark subway station in Kyiv in the early hours of this morning. Nine people were brought to police stations following the incident.

Meanwhile, a scuffle also is taking place at Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in central Kyiv on Thursday. Several dozen teenagers are trying to get access to a cafe with Polish football fans. A group of up to a hundred Poles of robust build are standing inside the secured perimeter.

Several hundred police officers are on site to prevent clashes between the football fans. Policemen in helmets formed a live cordon between the groups of fans to prevent clashes.

Smoke bomb explosions are audible at Maidan proper.