The fourth round of the Ukrainian Premier League can rightly be called the most dramatic of the current championship. Its main legacy was two major sensations occurring within the same match window: Donetsk's 'Shakhtar' lost at home to 'Polissya' 0-2, while Kyiv's 'Dynamo' was crushed 0-3 by 'Bukovyna' in Kamianets-Podilskyi. It is rare for two league flagships to lose in the same round, which is why the final standings and the balance of power after four rounds look noticeably less predictable than after the opening matches. At the end of the match period, Sport RBC.UA published its own symbolic team of the round, compiled based on the picks of four of the publication's experts.

A round under air-raid alerts

A separate entry in the chronicle of the fourth round is the security factor: due to air-raid alerts, some matches were played without spectators or stretched over two calendar days. The most telling example was the LNZ vs. 'Verez' match, which lasted about six and a half hours — the Rovno side's decisive winning goal was scored after 22:00. The 'Zarya' vs. 'Kharkiv' match was forced by an alert to be finished on Monday, and this pause, ironically, worked in Kharkiv's favor — the final score was 3-0 in their favor. Meanwhile, 'Kolos' and 'Obolon' managed to finish their goalless draw on Friday without a postponement to the next day.

The two main sensations of the round

The central event of Saturday was the Lviv sensation: 'Shakhtar' lost to 'Polissya' (0-2), which became one of the most unexpected results of the season. On Sunday and Monday, a second one was added: newcomer 'Bukovyna' crushed 'Dynamo' 3-0 in Kamianets-Podilskyi, and among the reasons for the rout, sources point to fatal errors by the Kyiv side's goalkeeper. The other results of the round were also tight: 'Kudrivka' lost to 'Epitsentr' (a brace by Vadym Sydun), 'Levyi Bereh' and 'Karpaty' drew 1-1, 'Chornomorets' beat 'Kryvbas', and 'Kharkiv' took the upper hand over 'Zarya' 3-0.

The symbolic team according to Sport RBC.UA

The versions of the symbolic team of the round were independently compiled by Danylo Vereitin, Andriy Kostenko, Mykola Malugin, and Leonid Loban. The only player to make it into all four respondents' lineups was the Kosovar forward of 'Kharkiv', who scored a brace in the match against 'Zarya' (3-0) and brought the victory to his team. In addition, the experts highlighted the goalscoring qualities of Vadym Sydun from 'Epitsentr' and Oleh Kozhushko from 'Bukovyna', while representatives of 'Polissya', 'Verez', 'Kolos', 'Chornomorets', and 'Karpaty' featured in various versions of the team.

The top-scorers' race

After four rounds, the leading positions in the UPL scorers' list are held by Brazilian players — Felipe Vieira of 'Karpaty' and Kauã Elias of 'Shakhtar'. They are currently setting the pace in the race for the championship's 'Golden Boot', although the sensational results of the round may significantly reshape the standings in the upcoming match windows.

Contradictory data

Here it is worth honestly noting two discrepancies. First, the four Sport RBC.UA experts did not agree on a single lineup: their symbolic teams differ in several positions, and only the figure of the Kosovar forward of 'Kharkiv' is fully consensual — this is normal practice for expert polls, not an error. Second, in the original version of the source, some player surnames are given with obvious transliteration distortions, which makes a number of names ambiguous. In this regard, the XAB.info editorial team builds the article's narrative on confirmed facts — the final scores of the matches, the brace by the 'Kharkiv' forward against 'Zarya', and the leading positions of Vieira and Elias in the top-scorers' race — and deliberately does not propagate the disputed spellings of surnames, in order not to entrench incorrect variants.