In a Ukrainian press conference, a Russian soldier explains the moment he realized the invasion of Ukraine was wrong. The reason? His favorite boxers, signing up to fight against Russia.
The video was released online and then circulated on Twitter on March 6th, 2022. In the video, the captured Russian soldier says: ‘Literally I’m one hundred percent wrong now. Don’t judge too harshly.’
Incredible video released by officials in Ukraine as a captured Russian soldier tells a press conference that he started to question what he’d been told after seeing his favourite boxers Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko signing up to fight against him… pic.twitter.com/0unQTLSrCU
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) March 6, 2022
The Russian soldier says that Russians had been told that ‘Ukraine is dominated by fascists … Nazis had seized power. We did not know the situation for sure.’
What changed the Russian soldier’s mind?
He explains that, when World Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko (also a former champion) signed up to fight for Ukraine, he started to think something was wrong.
He was a fan of these boxers, loving watching them fight while he was in Russia. So, when the soldier saw the boxer’s released address after entering Ukraine, the invasion started looking murkier.
He recounts: ‘They said: “we didn’t call you here.” I feel shame that we came to this country.’
What made the boxers sign up to fight?
Usyk was actually in training for his rematch against Anthony Joshua. Yet, following the invasion, he has switched his priorities. On the 6th of March, he was in Kyiv, in a bomb shelter.
CNN asked him why he chose to defend Ukraine instead of preparing for the rematch, to which he responded:
‘What do you mean why? It is my duty to fight, to defend my home, my family.’
Lomachenko was much the same. He was pictured with an M16 assault rifle on social media. Alongside the photo, he wrote the caption: ‘The Bilgorod-Dnistrovsky Battalion of Territorial Defense is formed and armed.
The situation in Ukraine has pushed many people to extremes. One Ukrainian sailor has tried to sink a Russian yacht, but, like many others fighting for their country, he says he would ‘do it again.’
