Ukrainian soldiers tour the World Trade Center en route to the Super Bowl

Two football-loving Ukrainian soldiers toured the grounds of the World Trade Center in Manhattan on Tuesday on their way to be honored at the Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

Yuri Hundych, 41, and Roman Boshuslavskyi, 36, took a break from fighting Russian invaders on the front lines to represent their home country in Sunday’s big game.

They stopped at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, rebuilt after being destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, and toured with former New York Governor George Pataki and Oleksii Holubov, Consulate General of Ukraine in New York nearby memorial to the 2001 York massacre.

Hundych and Boshuslavskyi – both American football players themselves – were granted permission by Ukrainian officials to attend the game and draw attention to the plight of the war-torn country on the world stage as the anniversary of the brutal, unprovoked invasion approached.

“It is a great honor to represent the Ukrainian army. We don’t consider this a tourist trip,” said Hundych, head of the Ukrainian American Football League and junior sergeant in the UAE Armed Forces, who has seen fighting in the Popasna region of the Luhansk region, which was illegally annexed by Russia this fall.

“While we are here, our brothers and sisters are on the front lines. Here we’re showing that we’re the same people as Americans, we like football… and we stand for democracy.”

Hundych owns an advertising company but played offensive tackle for the Kiev Patriots as a hobby. He left his wife and their 5-year-old daughter in Riga to fight when the Russians invaded, telling the Post he and his comrades were “just normal people with normal lives” before the war.

“No one believed we could stand and we stand. The world began to believe us and helped us. With that help, we started reclaiming territory,” he said. “We continue to take small steps toward victory,” he said of the Ukrainian military’s impressive efforts to repel its better-equipped attackers.

Boshuslavskyi is also a junior sergeant and former ULAF player who worked as a lawyer before fighting Russians in the illegally annexed Luhansk region. He is a father of three children under the age of five and lost his football-playing brother Danylo in the war, he said.

“He died ten days before the liberation of Kherson,” Boshuslavskyi said of Danylo. “He never saw the liberated Kherson, but I took his ashes there and scattered his ashes in Kherson.”

“It is not a war between Ukraine and Russia. Russia wants to take over all of Eastern Europe,” the soldier said.

“We fight for the whole world. The support shown was really great, but we hope that with more support we will be able to liberate our whole country and end this war.”

Boshuslavskyi said he would return to Ukraine in a week to continue fighting, but in the meantime he felt it was important to be an ambassador for his home country. Still, he had mixed feelings about the trip to Manhattan and Glendale.

“I still have things on my mind. I feel like if I have the right to have fun, I feel guilty for being here while my comrades are still here,” he explained.

“We just thought that we could be helpful here. The US is one of Ukraine’s biggest supporters. Fighting for heads here is no less important than being there.”

Pataki, 77, was in office when the Twin Towers came down and led relief missions to Ukraine and delivered soccer balls to Kyiv through his charitable foundation.

The Republican said he was “amazed to learn that Ukrainians are playing American football” after visiting wartime Ukraine.

“Not just a few, but hundreds of Ukrainians and they have a whole league,” said the former governor before showing his guests around the newly designed World Trade Center.

He compared the “scenes of devastation in Ukraine” to the staggering destruction the city suffered in the terrorist attacks.

“One wonders how they will ever be rebuilt,” he said. “Well, there were those who would look at Ground Zero in the days, weeks, and months after that and say, ‘How will that ever be rebuilt?’

“And look where we are now – better than ever, soaring to new heights,” he said, with the Freedom Tower looming in the background.

“Ukraine will come back and rebuild and soar to new heights and soar bigger than ever,” predicted Pataki. “The rule of law must prevail. Democracy and freedom must prevail.”

“We are here at the 9/11 Memorial to see how much pain and drama they have taken from the American nation,” Hundych told reporters at a news conference. “It is our understanding that we have been feeling tragic … every day for almost a year. Without your support, without American support, I don’t think so [could be] alive here,” he added.

Hundych said he’d be cheering for the Eagles in the Super Bowl but explained his hero is Tom Brady, whom he’s seen play four times on his previous trips to the United States.

“Everyone loves Tom Brady and I enjoy his team and I’m still a huge Patriots fan.”

When asked if he’d like to meet Tom Brady, he smiled and said: “Of course. He’s my hero.”

“My dream is to visit all 32 stadiums in the United States,” said Hundych, explaining, “I just love football. I can’t believe I’ll be there [at the Super Bowl] quiet.”

Boshuslavskyi also said he was rooting for Philadelphia to beat Kansas City despite hoping the Bengals would come through in the AFC Championship game against the Chiefs.

The soldier said he was blown away by his first visit to the city – which he learned about on screen.

“I can say that New York is the most filmed city of all time. I’ve seen it so many times. In no other city was so much filmed in other cities. It’s as I imagined,” said Boshuslavskyi.

The soldiers said they looked forward to the day when their comrades could trade the battlefield for the grate.

“After the win, we hope to return to normal life and play football,” Hundych said.