Vasyl Lomachenko Joins Territorial Defense In Ukraine To Fight Russian Invasion

Vasyl Lomachenko is the latest combat fighter to join the front lines to help Ukraine defend his country against the Russian invasion.

The former three-division champion and two-time Olympics gold medalist posted a picture on his Facebook page Sunday that he announced he joined a territorial defense battalion in Ukraine days after Russia invaded the country. In the photo, the caption read “the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Battalion of Territorial Defense is formed and armed.”

Lomachenko is reportedly set to face George Kambosos Jr. this summer for the IBF, WBO, WBA, and WBC Franchise belts. He last fought back in December as he earned a unanimous decision victory against Richard Commey at the Madison Square Garden in New York.

Vasyl Lomachenko is not the only boxer to help defend Ukraine as the Klitschko brothers have also joined the army. The Klitschko brothers have been vocal about wanting to defend their country and they spoke about it recently.

“We are hunting (Russian troops), and it will be much easier if nobody is on the street,” Vitali Klitschko said Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press (via BoxingScene). “I just talked to the president (Volodymyr Zelenskyy). Everybody is not feeling so well. We show our character, our knowledge, our values.

“To be honest, we don’t have 100% control. We built this territorial defense (system) in a short amount of time — but these are patriotic people. Right now, the most important question is to defend our country. We are at the border of a humanitarian catastrophe. Right now, we have electricity, right now we have water and heating in our houses. But the infrastructure is destroyed to deliver the food and medication.”

As of right now, it’s uncertain if Lomachenko serving in the army will impact his potential bout against Kambosos Jr. for the belt.

What do you make of Vasyl Lomachenko joining the Ukraine military?