Oleksandr Usyk: Heavyweight champion speaks exclusively to CNN after joining

Usyk’s manager, Egis Klimas, helped coordinate the interview and translated for Usyk, who doesn’t speak English. Despite the terrifying situation that many Ukrainians now find themselves in, Usyk says that he isn’t afraid.

“Maybe, it’ll sound sentimental,” he explained, “but my soul belongs to the Lord and my body and my honor belong to my country, to my family. So there is no fear, absolutely no fear. There’s just bafflement — how could this be in the 21st century?”

He’s not in Ukraine to box right now, but the noble art is still useful in this moment. “It has helped me to be calm and mentally prepared,” he said, “And it helps me to help others who are panicking and nervous.”

Both men were outside of the country when Russia invaded; Usyk had been in London, shooting sequences for an upcoming video game.

He was intending to fly home just hours after the hostilities had commenced, but with the airports closed, he instead flew to Warsaw in Poland and drove almost 500 miles back home and over the border to Kyiv.

Lomachenko had been visiting a monastery in Greece and returned home the next day. Instead of flying directly to his hometown of Odessa, he traveled to Bucharest in Romania, then drove for nine hours to the port and caught a ferry into Ukraine.

‘The bombing around is crazy’

Lomachenko was scheduled to speak with CNN at the same time as Usyk but wasn’t responding to the calls from his manager at the time. Early Wednesday morning local time, Klimas confirmed to CNN that Lomachenko was safe and sound.

He and Usyk remain close: they are godfathers to each other’s children and celebrate family birthdays together. Six days into the war, Usyk knows that nowhere is safe anymore in Ukraine.

“The bombing around is crazy,” Usyk said. “They just bombed the city of Mariupol, one of my friends got a rocket in his roof. [The Russians] are not playing games.”