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Vitali Volodymyrovych Klychko

Vitali Klitschko is a former Ukrainian professional boxer and a prominent figure in Ukrainian politics. Klitschko is best known for his successful boxing career, where he competed in the heavyweight division and held multiple world championships. Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, the brothers who together dominated international heavyweight boxing for a decade, are much more than Ukrainian ambassadors to the world.

Vitali Wladimirowitsch Klitschko came into the world on July 19, 1971 in Belowodsk, Kyrgyz SSR, Soviet Union (now Kyrgyzstan). He is the first child of Wladimir Rodionowitsch Klitschko, a Ukrainian officer in the Soviet Air Forces, and Nadeschda Uljanowna Klitschko, a Ukrainian teacher. Four and a half years later, Vitali's brother Wladimir is born on March 25, 1976.

In 1985 the young Klitschko family moves to Kiev, where Vitali, his parents, his brother Wladimir and his grandmother Evdokia share a small 200-square-foot apartment on the military base at the international airport. For the time being, 14-year-old Vitali hangs his boxing gloves up and begins instead to study the martial art Karate. Soon, however, a new kind of sport captures his imagination: Kickboxing.

He holds university degree in physical education from Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky State University (graduated in 1995). In 2011, he graduated with a master’s in social development management from the National Academy of Public Administration of Ukraine. In 2000 earned a Ph.D. in sports science.

Klitschko and his brother, Wladimir Klitschko, both achieved significant success in boxing, dominating the heavyweight division for many years. Vitaliy Klitschko's boxing record includes numerous wins and notable victories, establishing him as one of the most formidable heavyweights of his era. He boxed professionally from 1996 to 2013. Six-time world champion in kickboxing, 3-time boxing champion of Ukraine. Won the super heavyweight championship at the first World Military Games.WBO and WBA Intercontinental champion, 2-time European champion, WBO, WBC and Ring Magazine Heavyweight world champion.WBC Eternal World Heavyweight Champion. Finally retired from boxing in 2013.

After retiring from boxing, Vitaliy Klitschko transitioned into politics. He became increasingly involved in public service and social activism. In 2003 together with his brother Wladimir, he founded a charitable «Klitschko Brothers Foundation», which works to support youth sports, education and healthcare.

Vitali launched his political career in 2005 in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. Following the Kyiv mayoral race in 2006 he chaired the faction at the Kyiv city council. In 2010 he was elected as Chair of the UDAR Party (Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform - udar is a retronym, being the Ukrainian word for "punch"). Vitali Klitschko's anti-corruption party UDAR wins an impressive 13.96 percent of the vote in its first parliamentary election in 2010. With 42 representatives, it formed the third largest parliamentary delegation after Yulia Tymoshenko's party and the party of President Viktor Yanukovych, which came in first. Vitali Klitschko campaigned fiercely as the party chairman of UDAR. During the campaign, Klitschko clearly established the UDAR as the opposition party, laying out a pro-Western agenda and a plan to democratize the country. In the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary elections UDAR won 40 seats and formed a parliamentary faction. Klitschko started his term as MP.

In particular, he played a prominent role in the Ukrainian pro-European movement during the Euromaidan protests in late 2013 and early 2014, which eventually led to the ousting of then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. During the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 he became one of the country’s most visible political figures and one of the leaders of the protest movement in Kyiv’s Maidan. Wladimir addressed crowds during the tumult of 2014 but remained outside of formal politics, instead using his influence where possible before joining the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a reservist in the Territorial Defense Brigade shortly after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

In June 2014, Klitschko's political career reached a significant milestone when he was elected as the Mayor of Kyiv, after the Kyiv City Council and Mayor snap elections. Klitschko won the early elections for a term of one and a half years in the office of mayor within months of Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea and its support for armed Ukrainian separatists. His election marked a shift towards a new generation of political leaders in Ukraine. As the Mayor, he aimed to implement reforms, combat corruption, and improve the city's infrastructure.

The Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms ((UDAR) merged with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko's party "Petro Poroshenko Bloc – Solidarity" in 2015. Vitali Klitschko assumes leadership of the new party. "Together we will create a united political force that is aware of its duty to bring about effective reforms and material changes," promised the 44-year-old Klitschko. He called upon other parties to join the new alliance.

In autumn 2015, he was re-elected as the Kyiv mayor with a 5-year term ahead. In the 2015 run-off to the elections for the mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko won 66.5 percent of the vote, coming in far ahead of his 41-year-old challenger, the nationalist delegate Boryslav Bereza, who carries 33.5 percent. Klitschko announced further reforms for his next five years in office, including personnel changes within the city administration.

In 2020 local elections Klitschko won the mayoral race in the first round.

Vitali Klitschko holds the honorary title «Hero of Ukraine». He is married, with 3 children.

Nearly a decade into the conflict and almost a year after Russia’s wider invasion of Ukraine, he remained mayor and head of the capital’s state administration. "Sport has clear rules; if you break the rules, you get disqualified. This war, it has no rules. It's not a war, it’s terrorism. Civilians, women, children, old people are killed without reason. Its [aim is] to destroy the normal lives of civilians, to destroy apartments and other [civilian] buildings. Russians are told it’s a “special operation.” At the same time, they destroy cities, villages, they destroy the lives of millions."

"But one thing is the same in sport and in this war, and it’s very important: spirit, a will to win. And we see how the Ukrainian people show the will to win and spirit. We see how motivated Ukrainian people are, because a lot of experts around the world gave us a couple of days or maybe a couple of weeks to [withstand the battle] against the second strongest army in the world, the Russian Army."

"To the question of “why destroy the civilian infrastructure, the normal life of the people, these buildings?” the clear answer is: Russia is trying to bring depression to our society. The people have to live without depression. [The Russian thinking is that Ukrainian] people have to give up, or in the best case emigrate to another country to open up our country to Russians. Instead, they received a totally different answer. People are very angry. And they say it’s better to live without electricity and water than with Russian soldiers."

In an interview with LB 16 July 2023, Vitaliy Klitschko declared his readiness to be the next president of Ukraine: "If my knowledge, energy, and experience are needed to make Ukraine European, I will give everything. There will be presidential elections - we will talk about it."

There is no love lost between the former boxing champion and Zelenskyy, and although they both avoided open confrontation in the first year of the war, tensions later began spilling into the open. Zelenskyy took advantage of an outrage directed at Klitschko over an incident when bomb shelters in Kyiv failed to open during an air attack, which resulted in civilian deaths, to criticise the mayor.