The ultimate aim for O’Neill is to lead his young squad to a first major tournament since 2016 when the next Euros roll around in 2028.
Their return to the second tier in the Nations League has been successful so far, with Charles scoring a 99th-minute winner in Georgia before the team showed their character with a goalless draw at home to Hungary.
The players definitely looked tired in the closing stages of the draw, which can be put down to the 5000-mile return trip to Tbilisi, but they held their own against Dominik Szoboszlai’s side.
Before that, Northern Ireland had kept Paris Saint-Germain winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia quiet in the opener.
While Ukraine do not have the individual star power of the other teams in League B2, O’Neill knows they are still a dangerous side.
He described them as favourites on Friday night, and pointed to the fact that manager Andrea Maldera had made 10 changes between their opening 1-0 win in Hungary and the goalless draw with Georgia in their second game.
“Ukraine’s strength is in their collective as a team, rather than what we faced against Georgia with Kvaratskhelia and Hungary with Szoboszlai, who are top European players.
“I think that Ukraine have many players that have potential to be on that level and go to the big, big clubs in Europe.
“We haven’t highlighted any one individual, but we’ve looked very closely at how they play, with the ball and without the ball, and I believe their strength is in the collective of the team.”