Ukraine: A Nation of Brothers and Heroes

Ukraine: A Nation of Brothers and Heroes

2 BORDERS FROM HELL – By the time you read this, there’s a horrible chance that former heavyweight champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko will have been fully involved in ground level warfare around central Kyiv as the Ukraine’s resistance against Russia enters a final stage.

“The city has gone into a defensive phase. Shots and explosions are ringing out, in some neighborhoods saboteurs have already entered Kyiv. The enemy wants to put the capitol on it’s knees and destroy us,” said Vitali, the city’s mayor since 2014, to a small group of reporters as explosions echoed not far away on Friday afternoon.

Klitschko and brother Wlad have sworn allegiance to their country’s cause and are reportedly taking up arms as the battle grows nearer. Both of them had a pretty good idea what was coming some time ago, and both had plenty of time and resources to be somewhere besides the war zone.

The easier option was definitely available since internal politics of the situation remain under dispute even by many Ukrainians, including friends from there who tell me they’re convinced the problems lie more with US interference than Russia.

Both heavyweights were popular and had fought in Moscow with great fanfare, so a generally neutral stance and exit about Soviet logistics could probably be accepted eventually if not at first.

To be clearer, whatever the rights or wrongs, the Klitschkos chose to stand beside their countrymen in shell-torn rubble instead of making an exit into luxury, quite possibly a difference of life or death.

Another Ukrainian boxer, former WBC Super-lightweight titlist Viktor Postol, stated he will return to his wife and twin, 5-year old sons that live in the Kyiv suburbs immediately after his Showtime televised fight against Gary Russell at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Win or lose, Postol plans to fly into Poland or Romania and then drive the rest of the way. What awaits him there beside military conscription could be drastically different than it was before the contest against Russell.

Considering Postol and the Klitschkos, the next time many athletes or performers spew something about sacrifice or “wanting to give back” it will ring pretty hollow.

In fact, Ukraine’s general population has set an all too rare standard of national honor I doubt most citizens of most countries would be able to match. I pray most of us never have to, but I hope folks on every side of US partisanship count their blessings and treat all neighbors with more consideration.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also vowed to remain in Kyiv, and was pictured Friday afternoon in the street with his troops. Former President Petro Poroshenko, 56, was also filmed with his weapon. The Klitschkos were probably nearby.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense prohibited men aged 18-60 from leaving the country and issued the following advisory: “We urge citizens to inform us of troop movements, to make Molotov cocktails, and neutralize the enemy.” The post included a photographic diagram with instructions for making the cocktail.

Social media showed everyday automobiles crashing into armored vehicles around the time local government trucks unloaded rifles to the able bodied, though it wasn’t long before undisciplined friendly fire killed innocents.

One video clip featured a single, unarmed man trying to block a fast-moving Russian convoy with his bare hands. To their credit the Russians continuously swerved drastically instead of running him down. There were repeated reports of circumstances in which Russian forces tried to avoid bloodshed.

The “last great act of defiance” audio from Zmiinyi (Snake) Island, in which thirteen doomed Ukrainian servicemen refused to surrender before being bombed will probably trend into glorious history. Unfortunately, that doesn’t change the inevitable, insurmountable odds against Ukraine.

Reality says Kyiv’s current government is in the final hours.

Years back, after one of Wladimir’s title defenses in Germany, I spoke with Vitali on many points about his then upcoming campaign to be Mayor of Kyiv. Conversations with the Klitschkos were always thoughtfully impressive whatever the subject, but I remember this time he was unusually intense about how important he viewed the process and position.

I’ve been thinking about that for the past week or so. I wish the reflection was more optimistic.

As I typed this Friday afternoon there was word that Putin might be willing to answer Zelenskiy’s plea for negotiations that would cease hostilities. Never sell hope short.

After dusk on Friday, an update from Mayor Klitschko added to the darkness: “The Russian army destroyed the Kyiv thermal power plant. The emergency services are under way. The situation now – without exaggeration- is threatening for Kyiv. The night, close to the morning, will be very difficult.”

A couple of new photos appeared and were reposted around the time of Klitschko’s dispatch. One showed him looking out, over the horizon, with a large machine gun. Another showed President Zelenskiy and other government officials waiting with their troops. Zelenskiy said it might be the last time he was seen alive.

It takes a lot of courage to enter a boxing ring, but nothing like the courage the world is seeing from men, women, and children in Ukraine.

By the time you read this the Russian attack could be, at least for the time being, resolved.

In this case that almost certainly means under Russian control.

By the time you read this, along with many others the Klitschko brothers could be captured, wounded, or worse.

They might have been called heroes quite a while ago, but whatever fate holds for the Klitschko brothers, by the time you read this it was undeniably true.

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