Many Ukrainians have been up within the early hours of Sunday morning, for as soon as to not search shelter from incoming Russian missiles, however to rejoice the Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk changing into the world’s undisputed heavyweight champion.
Mr. Usyk’s victory over the British boxer Tyson Fury was a uncommon piece of fine information for an embattled nation that’s struggling to comprise Russian advances, notably within the northeast, the place Moscow has opened a brand new entrance.
President Volodymyr Zelensky lauded the victory as a logo of Ukraine’s resilience.
“Ukrainians hit exhausting!” Mr. Zelensky wrote in a Telegram submit round 3 a.m. that included {a photograph} of Mr. Usyk delivering a punch to Mr. Fury. “And in the long run, all our opponents shall be overcome.”
Ukrainian troops are presently engaged in fierce preventing to halt Russia’s grinding advance all alongside the entrance line, and there are fears that some key positions might quickly fall. Russian troops lately superior farther into Robotyne, a village within the south that was one of many uncommon successes of Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive final summer time.
Confronted with such grim prospects, many Ukrainians watched the match hoping {that a} win would elevate their spirits.
“This victory is excellent for elevating our morale,” Valentyna Polishchuk, 54, mentioned on Sunday in Kyiv, the capital. “Issues will not be good in our nation, and that is not less than one thing good.”
Maj. Ilya Yevlash, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Pressure, mentioned that “certainly,” Mr. Usyk’s victory “had an influence on the morale of all Ukrainians, and we now desperately want such victories!”
Many Ukrainian public figures, together with former President Petro O. Poroshenko and the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, himself a former heavyweight world champion, joined within the celebrations, portraying the victory as proof that Ukraine was able to defeating a powerful opponent.
On Sunday, one other Ukrainian boxer, Denys Berinchyk, gained a light-weight world title, including to the festive temper.
“We’ve got to do the whole lot potential to ensure that our subsequent victory is our nice victory,” Mr. Poroshenko wrote on Fb.
Because the Russian invasion started in February 2022, Mr. Usyk has used his appearances within the ring to attract consideration to Ukraine’s combat on the battlefield.
He has typically worn a conventional Ukrainian coiffure, consisting of a protracted lock of hair rising from the highest of a shaved head. On Sunday, he celebrated his victory by waving a Ukrainian flag bearing the image of the nation’s navy intelligence company.
Mr. Usyk can be an lively fund-raiser for the Ukrainian military. His charity, the Usyk Basis, has raised $740,000 up to now, in response to its web site.
However the Ukrainian boxer has additionally been criticized prior to now for his seemingly ambiguous stance on Russia. A local of Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, Mr. Usyk has been accused of getting ties to the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has strongly supported Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine.
Along with his victory on Sunday, Mr. Usyk turned the primary undisputed heavyweight champion for practically a quarter-century. He emerged triumphant after battling his method via a grueling 12-round combat towards Mr. Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The parallels with Ukraine’s exhausting conflict towards Russia weren’t misplaced on Ukrainians. “Right here, each blow can change the course of the battle,” Main Yevlash mentioned.
A number of Ukrainians on Sunday mentioned they hoped that Mr. Usyk’s victory would present the world that Ukraine was nonetheless able to profitable.
“I’m very proud that Oleksandr has gained this award. It is rather essential,” mentioned Fedir Ilarionov, of Kyiv. He was standing on St. Michael’s Sq., within the middle of the capital, the place Ukrainian authorities have exhibited Russian armored autos destroyed and captured on the battlefield.
Pavlo Velychko, a Ukrainian lieutenant who defends Ukraine’s northeastern border, struck a extra reasonable tone.
“It’s nice, optimistic information for Ukraine,” he mentioned in a phone interview. “However our most essential victories occur day by day on the battlefield. That’s the place the eye of the Ukrainian nation and the world must be targeted.”
