(Reuters) – Former world boxing heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko appealed to the world on Saturday to cease the battle in his native Ukraine and forestall a humanitarian disaster.
Wladimir and his brother Vitali, additionally a former world heavyweight champion and now mayor of Kyiv, have each vowed to take up arms towards invading Russian forces.
“I’m addressing the complete world to cease this conflict that Russia has began,” he stated in a video posted on-line.
“There’s no time to wait as a result of it is going to lead right into a humanitarian disaster. You want to act now to cease Russian aggression with something you’ll be able to have now. In an hour, or by tomorrow it is going to be too late.”
Wladimir enlisted in Ukraine’s reserve military earlier this month, saying on the time that his love for his nation compelled him to defend it.
Russian forces invaded Ukraine from three sides early on Thursday in what President Vladimir Putin referred to as a “particular army operation” to shield individuals, together with Russian residents, subjected to “genocide” in Ukraine – an accusation Kyiv and the West calls baseless propaganda.
(Reporting by Mussab Al-Khairalla; Writing by Alex Richardson; enhancing by Clelia Oziel)
