Ukrainian boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk has urged U.S. President Donald Trump to “open his eyes” to the war in his country.
The heavyweight fighter called out Trump amid ongoing peace talks between Washington, Kyiv and Moscow. With no deal in sight, the president appears to be running out of patience with the process and the war continues to rage in the meantime.
“Hey, President Trump – open eyes, please,” Usyk said in a forthcoming interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored. “[What] Russia is do[ing], the whole world knows is bulls**t. Why [do] you take my country?”
“This is my territory, the territory of my country, it’s my people, of course.”
On Monday Trump said he believed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was ‘ready’ to give up Crimea to Russia as part of a peace deal, despite previously resisting any permanent loss of territory to Vladimir Putin. Asked whether Kyiv was prepared to lose Crimea to Moscow, which Zelensky had ruled out just last week, the U.S. president said, “I think so.”
Moscow, which has occupied Crimea since a ground invasion in 2014, has said it does not see the southern peninsula as being part of any negotiations.
Usyk has been an outspoken support of Ukraine’s fight against Russia since the war began three years ago.
Back in March, Usyk visited a destroyed energy plant in Ukraine to see firsthand the effects of the war on critical infrastructure in his homeland.
“It’s incredible that after every attack, no matter how large the destruction is, the energy workers continue to repair the equipment and restore light to Ukrainians,” he said. “These people themselves radiate light and hope. Ukraine needs the world’s help in restoring its energy sector; this is our shared battle,”
Usyk’s own world heavyweight championship belt was intended to be a goodwill gift from his friend Zelensky to the U.S. president during his now-famous visit to the White House earlier this year.
However, after the conversation turned sour, Zelensky said that he never gave the belt to Trump, and instead, it was left on a side table in the Oval Office.
“I don’t know,” Zelensky said about the whereabouts of the prize. “Maybe it’s still sitting there.” According to Time Magazine, a member of the White House staff later found the belt and brought it to Trump’s private dining room.
Trump has ramped up pressure on Kyiv over Crimea, saying in no uncertain terms that “Crimea will stay with Russia” in an interview with Time published on Friday. “Zelensky understands that and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time,” he added.
“This is a done deal,” Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said of Crimea in an interview with CBS News’ Face The Nation program. “Russia do[es] not negotiate its own territory.”
Asked whether he “liked” the comments by the U.S. president, Lavrov said: “It’s not about liking or disliking. It’s about the fact that he said the truth.”
The full interview between Usyk Piers Morgan is to air on YouTube later this week.
