Kyiv, Ukraine — The black SUV stopped at a site of ruin: a badly damaged apartment building. A crushed streetcar. Blood covers the sidewalk.
Less than an hour earlier, a suspected Russian strike had hit this residential area in the Ukrainian capital. Vitali Klitschko got out of his vehicle and ducked under the red and white police tape to keep civilians out of the scene. For a wartime mayor in a besieged city, it was an all-too-familiar stopover.
A decade ago, Klitschko was best known as a legendary boxer and world heavyweight champion. His nickname was Dr. Ironfist – a nod to his PhD in physical education and his hands the size of dinner plates.
Now he has appeared as an oversized figure in Russia’s war in Ukraine. For more than six weeks, his city has withstood the imminent Russian takeover, with him – 6ft 7in tall – at the helm.
“We are very well prepared. Every day we see the Russian army destroying our cities… We don’t want to leave; we want to live in our house…but we don’t want to live in the dictator too[ship.] At the moment we remain in Ukraine with millions of people, defending, defending the future, our families, our country.” – Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko (Video: Washington Post Live, Photo: Washington Post Live)
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, an actor-turned-politician, was celebrated around the world for refusing to leave the capital, it was Klitschko who was far more visible on Kiev’s revamped and barricaded streets.
When Russian troops entered the capital, the mayor visited the scenes of the attacks immediately after the incident. He comforted survivors and greeted first responders. He was a guest at a wedding at the Territorial Defense Forces checkpoint. On Instagram, he shared his trips around the city and expressed his anger at Russian attacks on civilians. Visiting the suburb of Bucha just days after his liberation, when bodies were still littering the streets, he said what he witnessed there amounted to genocide.
“My priority as mayor of my hometown is to save the lives of our city’s citizens,” he said in a recent interview. Staying in the capital is not so much a decision as the fulfillment of a “mission”.
“I’m everywhere now,” he said.
This includes social media, where his posts are part of a PR campaign, and his relative ease on camera, which hints at his many years under bright lights in a boxing ring. Many in the capital suspect he plans to run for president. But his consistent performances in embattled Kyiv have also served as a unifying force for Ukrainians. Local residents — even those who didn’t particularly like Klitschko’s pre-war policies — say his unconventional approach is working.
“Our president was not a politician, our mayor was not a politician,” said Kostya Suspitsyn, a product designer and now a war volunteer, who paused at one of the city’s few open cafes earlier this month. “That’s why we’re so strong today.”
Klitschko was born in 1971 in what is now Kyrgyzstan, the son of a Soviet-era Air Force pilot. He and his younger brother Vladimir started boxing as children and then rose to stardom, becoming two of the most legendary boxers in the world. But as professionals, they never fought each other – to fulfill a promise they made to their mother.
While securing heavyweight titles, they also pursued their education and advanced degrees. Eventually, the elder Klitschko decided to live in Kyiv and try his hand at government.
In politics, as in the boxing ring, Klitschko is known for his slight awkwardness. Even his fans acknowledge that he tends to lose track of his thoughts or speak in jerky, incomplete sentences. Some of his more well-known speech imperfections have been widely shared as mocking memes.
Nevertheless, he developed into a serious figure in Ukrainian politics and founded the party Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms. In 2012 he won a seat in Parliament. He officially retired from boxing in 2013 and then rose to power as a leader in the massive protest movement that began in response to then-President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to reject a European deal and instead ally with Russia. The pro-Western movement now known as the Maidan, or Revolution of Dignity, marked a turning point in Ukrainian history and spurred an overhaul of the country’s political order.
Klitschko initially used the momentum to pursue a presidential candidacy. When he dropped out to support chocolate magnate Petro Poroshenko, he refocused on the mayor’s office. He has been head of Kyiv since 2014.
In February, he faced his biggest — and most unexpected — fight yet. Despite the warnings, he never thought a Russian invasion would happen and interpreted the buildup of troops on Ukraine’s border this winter as little more than Russian President Vladimir Putin flexing his muscles. Then, on February 24, the capital awoke to a barrage of booms.
“We didn’t prepare well because nobody believed in it,” he said. But once the invasion began, “we [didn’t] If we had no choice, we had to defend our country.”
Throughout March, the towns around Kyiv came under relentless fire from the advancing Russian forces. civilians were killed. Air raid sirens wailed non-stop in the capital. By the end of the month, about 80 homes had been damaged and about 100 civilians killed in the attempted siege, Klitschko said.
But Russian troops never managed to take the city – they retreated in recent days after failures that went against the expectations of military experts and Western officials. Klitschko attributes Ukrainians’ successes to a sense of duty to defend their way of life.
Russian troops “fight for money,” he said. “Ukrainian soldiers are defending our families, our wives, our children and the future of our families, the future of our country.”
On a recent morning, Klitschko stopped in front of a fire station in northern Kyiv. For once, his brother was not with him, but traveled to Germany to demand more humanitarian and military support from the country where they both lived for years.
In boxing, the two have referred to their relationship as the “secret weapon” their opponents must face. In the context of the war, this meant lining up in defense of the capital.
“I am very happy that my brother is using his status and international contacts” to raise money for Ukraine, said Klitschko. “My brother is very supportive.”
For some residents, this fraternal bond has also helped improve the mayor’s image. “Before the war, I didn’t have a very good opinion of him,” said Andrii Schavinskyi, a 26-year-old software engineer. “But the fact that he stayed in Kyiv and that his brother supports him makes me feel good.”
Klitschko wandered the fire station, inspecting new equipment and greeting those responsible for putting out fires caused by Russian strikes.
Beaming firefighters shook hands with the mayor and showed him the rooms where women weaved camouflage nets to cover checkpoints and civilians were trained in first aid.
“When people in power come to people involved in combat, it helps morale,” said Sgt. Volodymyr Taran, who worked as a firefighter for two years. “That means they don’t forget the people who save lives.”
Outside, Klitschko posed for photos and threw his arms around the firefighters. Some Russian forces still lingered on the outskirts of the city. The sound of artillery being fired out could be heard in the background.
Serhii Korolchuk and Serhiy Morgunov in Kyiv contributed to this report.