European youth boxing champion and Olympian Maksym Galinichev has been killed defending Ukraine from Moscow’s forces in the Luhansk region, officials said.
Galinichev, 22, lost his life on March 10 while serving with the 25th Separate Airborne Sicheslav Brigade in the village of Chervonopopivka.
Anton Gerashcehnko, an advisor to the Ukraine Minister of Internal Affairs, tweeted over the weekend that Galinichev had enlisted with the Army as a volunteer “and came back to the frontlines twice after being wounded and recovering.”
“Eternal memory to Hero,” the official wrote.
Galinichev, who was introduced to boxing at age 10 by his dad, won a gold medal at the 2017 European Youth Championships and a silver medal at the Summer Youth Olympics in 2018.
He was also awarded second place at the European Championship for boxers under age 22 in 2021.
Last year, Galinichev refused to take part in the European Boxing Championship and instead volunteered for the airborne assault troops to help fend off the Russian invaders.
Tributes from athletes around the world have poured in for Galinichev, including from Olympic skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, who hailed his compatriot as a “hero” who “laid down his life for independent Ukraine.”
GB Boxing tweeted that the UK team was “saddened” to learn of Galinichev’s “tragic passing.”
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Maksym’s friends and family at this devastating time,” the post read.
Galinichev is survived by his daughter, Vasilisa, who had just turned three years old last month.
In an interview he gave to the Ukrainian Boxing Federation a few months before the outbreak of the war, the 22-year-old said he was inspired to pursue a career in the sport to support his family.
“I was motivated to provide a future for my children, so that my family would be proud of me,” Galinichev said at the time.
The promising young athlete’s death in battle has intensified calls in Ukraine to have all Russian and Belarussian athletes banned from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
A United Nations expert advising the International Olympic Committee (IOC), caused an outrage among Ukrainian government and sports officials Sunday when she said that Russians who have actively served in the invasion should be allowed to return to international sports if they did not take part in war crimes.
