Olympic gold medalist boxers Vasiliy Lomachenko, and Oleksandr Usyk as well as current undefeated Bellator welterweight champion, Yaroslav Amosov, have joined in the fight to protect their home country of Ukraine amid the current invasion attempt from Russia.
ESPN's Mike Coppinger provided a report that Lomachenko was in Greece when the war began, and traveled through Romania on Saturday to get back to his family near the city of Odessa. The Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Ukraine native has now joined the Defense Battalion in his hometown to defend the country from the ongoing Russian invasion.
Vasyl Lomachenko has joined the Belgorod-Dnestrovsky Territorial Defense Battalion in Ukraine to defend his country from Vladimir Putin’s invasion by Russia… pic.twitter.com/LWFDcUhFAB
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) February 27, 2022
Amosov meanwhile posted the following video to his official Instagram account and revealed he has gotten his family to a safe zone, but that he will stay behind to protect Ukraine. He is currently scheduled to defend his title against Michael "Venom" Page at Bellator London on May 13, but there is no word yet from the promotion on if that fight will still go on as planned.
"Greetings. Probably, many will think that I ran away, I'm hiding or something like that, but this is not so," Amosov said (h/t Ringside24 for the translation). "I took my family to the safe zone. Now I have returned and will defend this country as best I can, with what I can. I love this country, our own. Russia came to our house and started a war here, many people are dying - innocents, women, and children. We have to defend this country, and we succeed, friends. And we will succeed because the truth is behind us. I would like to address those who subscribed to me from Russia. What is shown to you on TV, you may not watch - this is not true. If I were you, I wouldn't even watch your news. We are in a real war. I cannot understand those people who do not believe that Russian troops entered Ukraine. I see it with my own eyes, I hear it. Terrible things are happening here. We can do this. Friends, unite, help each other, and everything will be fine with us. The truth is ours, and victory will also be ours."
Lastly, Usyk the current WBA, WBO, IBF, and IBO heavyweight champion, has joined the Kyiv Territorial Defense in the capital city of Ukraine to defend his homeland. He released a video statement to his official Instagram account over the weekend, pleading to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian people to stop the current war in Ukraine from continuing.
Oleksandr Usyk joined the Kyiv Territorial Defense in Ukraine to defend his country from Vladimir Putin's invasion by Russia… pic.twitter.com/UUHZy0ADVe
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) February 28, 2022
Our entire team at Fightful would like to send our thoughts and prayers to the Ukrainian people during this time. If you'd like to donate to help, the following link from The Washington Post provides a number of charitable efforts that are currently helping the Ukrainian people.
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