Ukraine captain Artur Drozdov will play in his homeland for the first time in his career after signing for BC Kyiv.

The 1.98 metre forward was expected to leave French outfit Pau-Ortez for Spain or Italy but the lure of returning home proved irresistable.

"I'm glad to such a player in our team, - said Kyiv coach Viktor Berezhnoy.

"We've been trying to sign Drozdov for a month."

Although Drozdov grew up in Ukraine, he left the country at a young age to join Russian side Avtodor Saratov.

In 2000 he moved to Pau, and last season was one of their top Euroleague performers, averaging 9.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in the competition.

Drozdov made his national team debut in November 2002 in a 93-69 win over Switzerland.

After sitting out the early stages of the team`s preparations for their EuroBasket 2007 qualifiers because of an elbow injury, he is no set to link up with them ahead of the warm-up friendlies against Romania in Kiev.

"I am sure Artur will help us a lot," said recently-appointed national team boss Vitaliy Lebedintsev.

"He has good a dribble, shoots well and can take advantage of every opposition player."