Ukrainian junior boxing champion Maskym Galinichev died in a fight

Ukrainian boxer Maxim Galinichevwho won a gold medal at the 2017 European Junior Championships and withdrew from last year’s European Championships to continue defending his country, was killed on March 10 in combat in the eastern Luhansk region, it was reported on Monday.

According to Ukrainian media reports, the 22-year-old athlete signed up for the army as a volunteer and returned to the front despite being wounded twice in the war.

Galinichev was one of the most promising young Ukrainian athletes. In 2018, he won silver at the Junior Olympic Games, and at the European Under-22 Championship held in 2021, he was again on the podium as second.

The young boxer killed in battle was part of the 25th Sičeslav Airborne Brigade. Both the government and the Ukrainian sports federations and the country’s national Olympic committee demand the exclusion of all Russian and Belarusian athletes from all sports competitions, including the Olympics, as punishment for the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is supported by Belarus.

According to Ukrainian authorities, more than 230 Ukrainian athletes and sportsmen of various levels died as a result of the Russian military aggression, which also destroyed numerous sports facilities.