Many Ukrainians had been up within the early hours of Sunday morning, for as soon as to not search shelter from incoming Russian missiles, however to have a good time 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, significantly within the northeast, the place Moscow has opened a brand new entrance.
President Volodymyr Zelensky lauded the victory as an emblem of Ukraine’s resilience.
“Ukrainians hit onerous!” Mr. Zelensky wrote in a Telegram publish 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 will probably be overcome.”
Ukrainian troops are at present engaged in fierce combating to halt Russia’s grinding advance all alongside the entrance line, and there are fears that some key positions could 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 superb for elevating our morale,” Valentyna Polishchuk, 54, stated on Sunday in Kyiv, the capital. “Issues aren’t good in our nation, and that is no less than one thing good.”
Maj. Ilya Yevlash, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Pressure, stated that “definitely,” Mr. Usyk’s victory “had an impression 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 robust opponent.
On Sunday, one other Ukrainian boxer, Denys Berinchyk, received a light-weight world title, including to the festive temper.
“We now have to do the whole lot attainable to make it possible for our subsequent victory is our nice victory,” Mr. Poroshenko wrote on Fb.
Together with his victory on Sunday, Mr. Usyk turned the primary undisputed heavyweight champion for practically a quarter-century. He emerged triumphant after battling his manner by way of a grueling 12-round combat in opposition to Mr. Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The parallels with Ukraine’s exhausting battle in opposition to Russia weren’t misplaced on Ukrainians. “Right here, each blow can change the course of the battle,” Main Yevlash stated.
A number of Ukrainians on Sunday stated 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 received this award. It is vitally essential,” stated 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 sensible tone.
“It’s nice, constructive information for Ukraine,” he stated in a phone interview. “However our most essential victories occur every single day on the battlefield. That’s the place the eye of the Ukrainian nation and the world needs to be centered.”
