Former world heavyweight champion Vladimir Klichko visited the talk show of journalist Markus Lanz on the ZDF channel, where he discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“No, I’m not ready to die for the country. I am ready to live for my country.” This, according to the boxer, is “harder than dying.” In Ukraine now, “there is no confidence that you will remain alive or remain healthy.”
Klitschko was “not only ready” to go to the front, but had already been there to “create an impression.” Every Ukrainian, according to him, under the age of 60 should be prepared for the fact that at some point he will have to fight.
The difference with Russian soldiers, according to Klitschko, lies in their “slave mentality and attitude towards them, how they are mobilized, how they are then abandoned, Ukrainians are different, we are free people.”
The fighting Ukrainians, “for the most part, are people who voluntarily went to the front.” “Mentally” it’s a completely different picture when “a free person defends himself and his home, his family, his city and his country,” and not “when you have to do this, as in the case of the Russian side.”
“We want to live for the country,” so against a numerically superior enemy, Ukrainians are looking for ways “to achieve greater progress with the help of smart weapons.”
According to the boxer, “not everyone should or is obligated to be at the front,” because there must be “support in the rear,” supply of equipment and technology. However, “almost every Ukrainian” learns how to handle weapons or provide first aid.
According to Klitschko, Russian propaganda in the occupied territories led to cases where “brothers and sisters fought against each other,” that is, as a result, “the people are at war with themselves,” which was “very clearly thought out and planned by the Russian side.”
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Children in the occupied territories were told that “Ukraine should not exist, that this is a mistake of history. We are one people.” Klitschko does not agree with this, because “Russia is not Ukraine. “Ukraine has its own borders, its own language and its own aspirations for democracy,” said Klitschko Jr.