They multiply the messages and the videos. Between them, they have more than 1.2 million followers on Twitter, and nearly a million on Instagram. They both took up arms at the start of the conflict.
Vitali, the eldest, 50, mayor of Kiev, regularly appears on the front line, arms in hand, or visiting schools or hospitals. It is always either in fatigues and bulletproof vest, or in simple fleece. Not the type to be in a suit and tie. And it’s even less the style of his younger brother, Vladimir, 45, with close-cropped hair and an even squarer face. This March 11, around 3 p.m., he posted two very virulent videos. He is in a black T-shirt, in front of a gray curtain. He speaks in Russian and takes the whole of the Russian people to task, asking them how they can believe Putin’s propaganda for a single second. The total of the two videos lasts 2’30 and the tone is vehement.
“Ukraine is a free countrysays Klitschko. A free country that has chosen the European democratic path. We will fight to defend our choice. We are more determined and resolute than ever.” And he continues, addressing the Russians: “It is not us who have come to your country, it is you who are killing our children and bombing us. Stop trembling in fear before this mad dictator, be brave, save your country.”
It is not the same style as President Zelensky, a former television showman. But it’s just as effective. They are more like Ukrainian Arnold Schwarzeneggers. 2.02 meters for the eldest, 1.98 m for the youngest, 110 kilos in both cases, these are mirror cabinets.
And both immense boxers: each of them world champion several times in the years 2000 and 2010 in the queen categories of heavyweight and super heavyweight, those of Tyson or Mohammed Ali. 47 matches, 45 wins, including 41 by knockout for the eldest. 69 matches, 65 victories including 54 by KO for the youngest. Both were born under the yoke of the Soviet Union in 1971 and 1976. Their father died of cancer after being one of the men sent to the site of the Chernobyl power plant, north of Kiev, during of the nuclear disaster in 1986.
And Vitali is now a politician. As soon as he entered politics in 2013, he affirmed pro-European positions. He is one of the protesters in Maidan Square. In 2014, he became mayor of Kiev. He was re-elected in 2020. The two brothers both speak four languages: Ukrainian, Russian, German, English. They are fierce defenders of Ukrainian independence, and they see Putin as a threat to all of the West and all of Europe. The Klitschko brothers both seem ready, if necessary, to die arms in hand.