Berlin – This weekend, in several videos, former world boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko clearly showed where he stands: alongside his brother Vitali, 50, the mayor of Kyiv. On the side of Ukraine, on the side of democracy. And, as the former heavyweight boxer emphasizes, he will defend. Even with weapons. “It’s about the free values that we have decided on,” says Wladimir Klitschko. It’s about the will of the Ukrainians. About the future.
In the past, at the Euromaidan, the demonstrations between autumn 2013 and spring 2014, the two tall, broad-shouldered boxers stood together in Kyiv. There they grew up in an officer’s family. Her mother lives in Ukraine. But it’s not just about defending home, home, family and friends, says Wladimir Klitschko. It’s about values.
dr Steelhammer and Dr. iron fist
Wladimir Klitschko, 45, whose big brother once teased him about his longer hair before a boxing match, has gotten an army haircut. He looks serious in the videos, determined. He speaks German and English more fluently than his brother – and has taken over the communication.
As athletes, the Klitschkos, who started their world career as professionals from the Hamburger Universum boxing stable, fought their way into the hearts of German television viewers. They were considered studied giants when Dr. Iron Fist and Dr. Steelhammer, as a sophisticated pair of brothers who dominated the heavyweight division. When one fought, the other was there in the corner. This is how the Ukrainians became prominent in the USA.
Wladimir Klitschko appeals: “Stop this war! Now.”
Wladimir Klitschko lived in Los Angeles for a while, his daughter’s mother is American, on the set of the movie “Oceans Eleve” he shot with George Clooney and Julia Roberts. But he doesn’t watch what’s happening in Ukraine from afar. He came to Kyiv to defend what he was initially skeptical and later grateful for on his first competitive trips to the West: freedom.
Vitali Klitschko made an initial appeal to the West on Thursday not to allow this war, “which knows no winners, but only losers,” to happen. Vladimir repeated his plea “to the world to stop this war that Russia started” on Saturday: “Civilians have been shot down by rockets… This is happening in the heart of Europe. There is no time to wait. Because the whole thing leads to a human catastrophe… Stop this war! Now.”
Finally, on Sunday, Wladimir Klitschko addressed the people of Russia and Belarus directly with a new video message. “Stay at home,” he pleaded. “You go to work every day. With this you help to pass cartridges to your army – so to speak. And shoot at us… Your – as you call us – brothers and sisters.” It is a call to strike for peace.