Comments come as world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk says he has ‘no fear’ after joining Ukrainian army
Former world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko on Wednesday said the BBC risked peddling “Russian propaganda” after Geeta Guru-Murthy raised the plight of foreign nationals trying to flee Ukraine.
The journalist asked Klitschko whether he and his brother Vitali, also a former world champion and now the mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, whether they were aware of the difficulties foreign nationals were said to be experiencing at border crossings.
He replied: “You’ve got to be careful because, you know, propaganda works really well, it brainwashes us so well. That all those children, so to speak, in the military uniform – soldiers, Russian soldiers – coming in and they say: ‘Oh, we’re defending you guys from Nazis.’
“Where are the Nazis? Where are they? This is complete nonsense and just brainwashing, propaganda.”
‘My country and my honour are more important’
His countryman Oleksandr Usyk, the current world heavyweight champion who has signed up to fight with the Ukrainian army, said that he had “no fear” and was prepared to die rather than think about his boxing career.
Usyk, who had been in line for a return fight with Britain’s Anthony Joshua, said: “I really don’t know when I’m going to be stepping back in the ring. My country and my honour are more important to me than a championship belt.
“If they [the Russians] will want to take my life, or the lives of my close ones, I will have to do it. But I don’t want that. I don’t want to shoot, I don’t want to kill anybody, but if they will be killing me, I will have no choice.
“Maybe it’ll sound sentimental, but my soul belongs to the Lord and my body and my honour belong to my country, to my family. So there is no fear, absolutely no fear. There’s just bafflement – how could this be in the 21st century?
“It has helped me to be calm and mentally prepared. And it helps me to help others who are panicking and nervous.”
Usyk gave a vivid picture of life amid the Russian invasion, saying: “The bombing around is crazy. They just bombed the city of Mariupol – one of my friends got a rocket in his roof. Russian people don’t really know exactly what’s going on here. They’re not seeing what’s going on. They are victims of their president.”