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 rejoice 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 excellent 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 a logo of Ukraine’s resilience.
“Ukrainians hit onerous!” Mr. Zelensky wrote in a Telegram put up 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 might be overcome.”
Ukrainian troops are at present engaged in fierce preventing to halt Russia’s grinding advance all alongside the entrance line, and there are fears that some key positions might 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, mentioned on Sunday in Kyiv, the capital. “Issues are usually not good in our nation, and that is no less than one thing good.”
Maj. Ilya Yevlash, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Pressure, mentioned that “indisputably,” 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 powerful opponent.
On Sunday, one other Ukrainian boxer, Denys Berinchyk, received a light-weight world title, including to the festive temper.
“We’ve got to do the whole lot potential 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 almost a quarter-century. He emerged triumphant after battling his approach by means of a grueling 12-round battle in opposition to Mr. Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The parallels with Ukraine’s exhausting struggle in opposition to Russia weren’t misplaced on Ukrainians. “Right here, each blow can change the course of the battle,” Main Yevlash mentioned.
A number of Ukrainians on Sunday mentioned 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 extremely necessary,” mentioned 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 automobiles 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 mentioned in a phone interview. “However our most necessary victories occur day-after-day on the battlefield. That’s the place the eye of the Ukrainian nation and the world must be centered.”
