Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kiev and former heavyweight boxer, says ‘we are preparing for any situation’ over tension with Russia

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“If the escalation rises, we must be ready to defend our independence and the integrity of our country – and civil defense as well,” he added [sic] “Be prepared,” Klitschko told CNN’s Linda Kinkade on Connect the World on Wednesday.

“Hopefully this never happens, this [is] “Worst case, but we have to be prepared,” added the former world heavyweight champion.

There have been months of tension near the Ukraine-Russia border, where more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have gathered.

Klitschko said he was “worried” about Russian military forces on the border but says it’s possible what is being seen is just a matter of optics, describing Russian tactics as a “muscular game”.

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Wednesday that Russia has not committed to de-escalation after two rounds of diplomatic talks this week.

Moscow is demanding security guarantees from the US and NATO, including a binding pledge that NATO will not expand eastward and will not allow Ukraine to join the military alliance – something NATO is not willing to do.

During the nearly four-hour meeting on Wednesday — which took longer than scheduled — Sherman said the United States and its NATO allies made clear that Russia’s demand to never allow Ukraine to join NATO was not a start.

The talks with the NATO-Russia Council are the second of three sets of meetings this week. They are trapped between Monday’s US-Russia talks and Thursday’s meeting between Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Klitschko criticized the talks in Switzerland and Belgium for not including Ukraine at a high level, calling it a “geopolitical” game.

“Everyone is talking about Ukraine, without Ukraine,” Klitschko told CNN’s Connect the World on Wednesday.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said after Wednesday’s session that NATO’s behavior creates unacceptable risks for Russia. Klitschko described Grushko’s statements as a “political game”.

“Without the delivery of weapons to this region, without financial support, without propaganda, this conflict will never happen. Everything happens under the control of [the] Russian Federation,” said the former boxer.

Sherman described it as “difficult to understand” how Russia might feel threatened by Ukraine when it has the largest conventional army in Europe.

‘democratic european country’

Before entering politics, Klitschko was a world heavyweight champion boxer, retiring with a record 45 wins and only two losses. He announced his intention to run for the country’s presidency in 2015, but retracted his bid and instead supported billionaire Petro Poroshenko, who served from 2014-2019 before he was defeated by Volodymyr Zelensky, considers Klitschko Zelensky a rival, and accuses the president of committing a crime. Sending state security agents to his home to pressure him politically. The state security service denied taking action against him, and prior to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, Klitschko was a key leader of the opposition during protests against the invasion of its neighbor.

“In 2014, Ukraine decided to take a European direction for the development of our country. It is not so [the] The Russian Federation and Mr. Putin are not happy with this decision because of his idea [is] to rebuild [the] “The Soviet Empire,” Klitschko said, referring to the Russian president.

“We don’t want to go back to [the] Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. We see our future [a] democratic European country.

Klitschko, better known as Dr. Ironfest in boxing due to his Ph.D. in Sports Science, stood at 6 feet 7 inches tall.

His brother Vladimir, who is five years younger than him, was also a world champion, retiring in 2017 after winning 64 out of 69 fights and holding the heavyweight title for more than nine years. A candidate backed by Zelensky to fifth place in October 2020.

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