CNN
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Oleksandr Usyk has shared photos of himself at his family home in Ukraine – the first time the boxing world champion has posted explicitly from Vorzel, near Bucha, since the house was taken by Russian forces earlier this year.
Usyk posted photos of himself outside the house on his verified Instagram story on Tuesday with a location tag for Vorzel.
Photos show Usyk, 35, standing near a Ukrainian flag outside the fence of the house.
In April, Ukrainian outlet ICTV tweeted images from Usyk’s wife, Yekaterina’s Instagram Story, which showed the house destroyed and burnt down, along with a caption reading, “Russian world! it happened to me too! Beasts! They just ruined everything, they were shitting as usual!
In an interview with Britain’s The Guardian newspaper in August, Usyk said his house had been broken into by Russian soldiers, but he had “people to rebuild it, so it will be fine”.
Usyk defeated British boxer Anthony Joshua for the second time on August 20 in Saudi Arabia to retain his WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles. and returned home to Ukraine on August 29, according to an Instagram post.
When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Usyk traveled to Ukraine and joined the Territorial Defense Battalion.
“If they want to take my life, or the life of my loved ones, I will have to,” Usyk told CNN’s Don Riddell. “But I don’t want that. I don’t want to shoot, I don’t want to kill anyone, but if they kill me, I won’t have a choice.
In March, Ukraine’s sports minister said Usyk would be allowed to return to training ahead of his fight with Joshua, but the 35-year-old was still reluctant.
“I really didn’t want to leave our country, I didn’t want to leave our city,” Usyk told reporters, according to Reuters. “I went to the hospital where soldiers were injured and rehabilitated after the war.
“They were asking me to go there, to fight, to fight for the country, to fight for your pride and if you go there, you will even help more for our country.
“I know a lot of my loved ones, friends, close friends, are on the front line right now and fighting. What I’m doing right now, I’m just supporting them, and with this fight I wanted to bring them some kind of joy between what they’re doing.
Combined with a parallel offensive in the south, Ukraine has recaptured a total of 6,000 square kilometers (about 2,300 square miles) of land in the northeast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday.
The Ukrainians gained a huge amount of weapons from these battles in the northeast, as many Russian troops sacrificed their intact vehicles in order to escape with their lives.
