Vitalij Klitschko, Volodymyr Zelenskyj | Child soldier, world’s best boxer and mayor of Kyiv

So it was not at all in the cards that he would end up as an influential mayor of Kyiv.

Now he is at constant war with Volodymyr Zelenskyj – in a showdown that can certainly be considered a false start for a presidential election sometime in the future.

Raised as a decent “Soviet person”

In reality, it was Vitali’s father who served in the Soviet Air Force.

He was a major with a central position in the maintenance of deployed nuclear missiles.

The paternal origin was also a strict party man, who raised his son to become a decent “Soviet person” – that is, an enthusiastic supporter of the communist paradise’s struggle for all the world’s enslaved and oppressed.

The world outside the Soviet Union was described by the rocket expert as capitalist, imperialistic and contemptuous of people.

The father went through the ranks as an officer, and was rarely seen without his uniform.

It was to be freshly pressed at all times – a task that fell to Mrs Natasja.

The married couple with their small son lived in small apartments on deserted barracks grounds, where they hardly had any other contacts than their colleagues and their families.

Under Dad’s command

When Volodymyr came home in the evening, the food would be ready on the table.

In biographies of the eldest son, the whole family is portrayed as being under his command – as were the father’s military subordinates.

Vitalij was at the bottom of the ladder. And if Volodymyr had “asked” him for something, this was to be perceived as a direct order.

When Vitalij (53) turned five, the second man announced his arrival.

Vladimir (48) quickly took over his place as the family’s lowest rank.

But that wasn’t going to make life easier for big brother, because Vladi was a little charmer. Every time he came up with a prank, it was Vitalij who had to collect the ear figs.

Because it was he who should have looked after the youngest better.

In the desert

One was born in Kyrgyzstan, while the other saw the light of day in a godforsaken part of Kazakhstan.

The boys grew up at airports, where the highlight of the week was getting to join dad at work on Sundays – when he even let them take a seat behind the counter in a parked fighter jet.

But otherwise life was desolate, with barracks and lots of desert around.

New corner at regular intervals

Every other year, Volodymyr was transferred to a new corner in one of the eastern Soviet republics.

And each time the two boys had to start over by getting new playmates.

For each new school they attended, brutal fistfights about positions and social status awaited. Vasilij is said to have felt his father’s icy contempt when he came home from his new school one day with a bloody nose.

If the boy was so weak that he could not even beat up new classmates, then he had to find himself in both physical and psychological pain.

Vasilij soon also became responsible for protecting Vladi from any tormentors.

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Iron-hard discipline

Discipline was a key word in the boys’ upbringing.

His father rose through the ranks, and when Vasilij became a teenager, the trip suddenly went to Czechoslovakia, where his father became the commander of a Soviet garrison.

Suddenly the boy found himself in the middle of a completely unknown world – a place with access to Western lifestyle.

The more than two meter tall bundle of muscles eventually saw in his eyes that nothing could come of his dream of a career as a fighter pilot.

He simply did not want to fit in the cockpit.

Because his mother was Ukrainian-born, there was no doubt in the family that their home was there – when the Union of Soviet States disintegrated in 1991.

The father announced his transfer to the Ukrainian Air Force, and the family got a small service apartment in Kyiv.

Fighting fighter

By now Vasilij had discovered his own talent for kickboxing, and it is claimed that he was also active in the city’s underground of fighters who met in secret places to fight matches without rules.

But when he was called up for military service, he was quickly brought in as a full-time boxer. And thus began a career that would take him almost all the way to heaven.

Over the years, there have been dozens of amateur victories. And eventually, Western European backers also cast their eyes on the many talents that emerged from the former Eastern Bloc countries.

They appeared in Germany after the fall of the Wall, and smashed all German resistance to pieces.

Talented guys from the GDR, Poland and various Soviet states had obvious ambitions and a fierce will to get ahead.

Got the inside scoop on everyone

But the Klitschko brothers took the inside out on all the others, when they appeared in Hamburg and other German cities in the mid-90s.

The boys looked like twins, and when one was in the ring, the other stood in a corner and shouted encouragement.

(Because in the meantime, Vladi had also acquired his own career.)

It was said about them, that the Klitschko brothers always came in double packs.

Took action to reach the top

In the first few years, it didn’t always smell so good, where Klitschko and his entourage were rising.

They were often accompanied by a Ukrainian oligarch, and there were rumors that the two had at times carried out assignments as both bodyguards and money collectors.

But the Klitschko guys themselves realized that the overt ties to their home country’s underworld went badly beyond their reputation – and thus their income opportunities.

Both learned German and were eventually able to make themselves understood in their new homeland.

But none of the brothers allowed themselves to be tempted into the same kind of self-boasting as many of their opponents.

Rather, they entered the ring and showed with their own fists what they were good for.

In Vitalij’s case, it would mean, among other things, that for nine years and seven months he was on the world champion throne for at least one of the boxing federations.

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Dr. Stålhammer and Dr. Jernnef

“Dr. Stålhammer” became his nickname, while his little brother was referred to as “Dr. Iron Fist”.

And both brothers actually had PhDs from the University of Kyiv.

(After this became practically possible, both of their written assignments were examined for plagiarism and other rule violations. Not a single sign of cheating was found – and confronted with the content, Vladi proved on the spot that he still remembered every single sentence by heart.)

Never beat Tyson

The streak of knockout victories in the years 1996 to 2012 was long – and marked by the letters KO in Vitalij’s favour.

He was still world champion, when towards the end of 2012 it was announced that he retired from the sport of boxing – to instead become a politician in his home country.

One of the few goals that Vitalij never achieved was a meeting with the legendary Mike Tyson. The American had come of age and was characterized by a hard life in and outside the ring. When Vitalij ended his career, Tyson was asked for a comment.

He replied that the Ukrainian had been one of the best boxers of all time – and in any case was among the 10 greatest.

“But I would have beaten him up, if we had ever met,” added Mike Tyson modestly.

Super celebrities

To make a long story short, the brothers made their childhood dreams come true.

Both made sure to become world champion in four international boxing organizations at the same time.

When they had a microphone stuck in their face, they rattled off phrases that made it clear that these were people with traffic between their ears. Friendly, attentive – and not just a couple of brutal types with boxing gloves.

Vladi and Vitalij became super celebrities – and on first name terms with the whole of Germany.

At this time, the first sports channels appeared on TV, and boxing provided – overnight – the opportunity to earn quite a lot of money.

The Klitschkos were suddenly associated with expensive cars and influential people in the social circle. There were villas in both Hamburg and Kyiv.

And the money just kept pouring in.

Ran for the presidency

In 2012, Vitaly managed to be elected to the Ukrainian parliament.

Two years later, he emerged as one of the most active leaders during the demonstrations on the Maidan in Kyiv.

And so he made it known that he would stand to be elected as the country’s next president.

That plan was a couple of numbers too big.

But in 2014, Vitalij entered into an agreement with the candidate Petro Poroshenko. In exchange for his support for the other, he himself was named as the alliance partner’s candidate to become Kyiv’s new mayor – a plan that also failed.

The same Poroshenko is not only one of the country’s great oligarchs, but had probably taken it more or less for granted that during the last presidential election he would take the inside swing at all opposition.

However, this was not the case during the 2019 election, when the popular actor and lawyer Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyi drew the longest straw.

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Smart advocate with a kick to the West

In the days after the Russian attack, Zelenskyj became the great hero, where he stayed at the post to fight – instead of accepting the offer of a safe ride out of the country.

But Vitalij Klitschko also made a name for himself in foreign media – where he spoke fluent German on German TV and English in other countries.

Kyiv’s mayor said the politically correct things, and occasionally delivered some solid kicks to Western politicians who hadn’t yet grasped the seriousness of what was going on.

Klitschko knew “the whole” of Berlin, and was well received where he – now as a Ukrainian envoy – appeared to hold talks about future assistance.

Everyone welcomed Vitalij when he knocked, but not all German politicians were afterwards equally satisfied.

Some of them may have thought they were being visited by a “punch drunk” ex-boxer with an overgrown ego and poor equipment on the top floor.

They would have faith again.

The President’s Attack

Back home in Kyiv, it didn’t exactly come as a shock when, just a few weeks after 22 February 2022, President Zelenskyi launched a fierce verbal attack on Klitschko, who was accused of ignoring the need for bomb shelters – thereby putting the local population at great risk.

The whole thing primarily smelled of a domestic political showdown between two people who can’t stand each other’s noses.

The answer from Vitalij didn’t take long either.

He fired back, but reminded that the country is at war – and that they should perhaps wait until after a future victory to place blame on each other.

Stealing the limelight

No one can properly explain Zelenskyi’s fierce horn on the forehead of Kyiv’s mayor – except that Vitaliy repeatedly steals the limelight from himself.

And while Zelenskyj is 170 centimeters on the stocking, Vitalij towers 202 centimeters above the ground – which may also be a moment.

The other day there was a new kick from the president’s office.

Zelenskyj thundered loose, while Klitschko defended himself to the best of his ability.

The president must have been annoyed in his quiet mind, when his very special nemesis appeared on the front page of several German media two days earlier – with a loud and clear demand that the EU countries must finally start delivering long-promised weapons systems .

Klitschko more than hinted that it is soon high time that Ukraine also gets such sophisticated missiles that it is possible to defend itself – and attack – the enemy with the Russians’ own methods and striking power.

Perhaps Zelenskyj thought that the statement should have come from his own mouth instead?

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No ordinary playboy

Vitaly Klitschko has gained the sympathy of many Ukrainians during the war.

It is clear that he is not just a playboy who became the mayor of the Ukrainian capital to be able to go around champagne parties and enjoy the admiration from all sides.

He will live a relatively spartan life, work late and get up early.

The discipline that was instilled in him by his father while growing up is now coming in handy.

And probably also the father’s contempt for a son who does not win over everything and everyone.

One fine day, he will surely meet Zelenskyj for a proper showdown – namely, when both stand as candidates in the next free presidential election.