The mayor of Ukraine's capital city Kyiv, and former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko said on Thursday that he's fully prepared to take up arms and go out into the streets to defend his country against Russian aggression and an ongoing invasion saying, "I don't have another choice."
Klitschko told UK network ITV's show "Good Morning Britain" that the conflict is "already a bloody war," and said, "I have to do that. I would fight" when asked if he would take up arms.
"We stand up against one of the biggest and strongest armies in the world, but we have to defend our families. Defend our country, our cities, and we don't have another choice," Klitschko said.
50-year-old Klitschko, and his other Hall of Fame boxer brother Wladimir Klitschko also said in a video posted on Thursday to Twitter that they are calling on all international partners to "observe this tragedy that is happening." Klitschko called it a "senseless war, which is not going to have any winners."
Klitschko said, "We must stay united against this aggression, against Russian aggression. Don't let it continue to happen in Ukraine, don't let it happen in Europe, and eventually around the world. United we are strong. Support Ukraine."
Klitschko entered politics in Ukraine in 2004, and became mayor of Kyiv in 2014 after spending much of his professional boxing career in Germany, along with his brother Wladimir.
In January, Klitschko told German newspaper Deutsche Welle, "This conflict has been artificially concocted. If someone had said 10 years ago that Russia would occupy Crimea, that the Donetsk and Donbas would be occupied, that 13,000 Ukrainian citizens would die in the conflict, nobody would have believed it. But that is the harsh reality today."
