CHERRIES defender Illia Zabarnyi helped his country Ukraine to bolster their Euro 2024 hopes with a 2-1 win over Slovakia.

Having played all 90 minutes of Ukraine’s opening game defeat to Romania, Zabarnyi once again played the entirety of the Group E encounter with Slovakia.

The Slovakians had taken a first-half lead through Ivan Schranz, before Ukraine equalised shortly after the restart via Mykola Shaparenko.

Ukraine found a winner 10 minutes from time, Roman Yaremchuk firing home to earn his side their first three points of the tournament.

Victory leaves Zabarnyi and Ukraine level on points with Romania and Slovakia, with the Romanians set to play Belgium tomorrow evening (8pm).

Belgium await Ukraine in their final game of the group stage, the two sides set to go ahead on Wednesday, June 26 (5pm).

Zabarnyi reached the quarter finals of the 2020 edition of the Euros with Ukraine, playing all five games of that tournament as they were knocked out by eventual finalists England.

The 21-year-old has played 38 times for his country in total since his debut in October 2020.

Cherries signed the Ukrainian international from Dynamo Kyiv in January 2023, paying a reported £24million for the defender's services.