KYIV—Vitaly Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv and former heavyweight champion of the world, won’t stand for any of the scaremongering that is sweeping through Europe. Many fear that the election of President Donald Trump would be a death knell for Ukrainian independence but Klitschko believes Trump would back them against President Vladimir Putin.
The ex-boxer has held meetings with senior Republicans, including Sen. Tom Cotton and Sen. Lindsey Graham, in Washington, D.C., and in Kyiv as Ukraine tries to work out how to survive until the U.S. election season is over.
There is absolute certainty in Kyiv that Putin will make a second attempt to conquer the Ukrainian capital before the election is held in November. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle expects Russia to take advantage of the key months when the focus in D.C. is almost entirely on domestic politics.
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The upcoming elections also cast a shadow over congressional negotiations on foreign aid, which have become a political flashpoint. Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has indicated that he will finally attempt to pass a bill with additional funding for Ukraine but he faces vehement opposition from the hard-right faction within his party who align themselves with Trump.
Klitschko, once the world’s best boxer, noted that none of the Republican skeptics had ever dared to raise their concerns to his face. “They are afraid of arguing with me, they know the argument would not end well,” he told The Daily Beast.
He admits that he is disappointed that the U.S. has allowed Republican intransigence to hold Ukraine “a hostage” but he believes blue skies are ahead even in a scenario where Trump is returned to the White House with a Republican majority in Congress.
“The brightest personalities who won battles with the Soviet dictatorship were Republicans like Ronald Reagan, and later there was John McCain,” he said. “Today we see that Republicans block the deliveries of weapons to Ukraine; we hear Trump’s rhetoric—this is just a result of the election campaign.”
Klitschko is steadfast in his belief that the Republican party will throw its weight behind a nation that is trying to fight for political freedom if it sweeps to power in November.
“I don’t believe that Republicans have changed their political views to go for compromises with Russia regarding double standards of democracy,” he said. “Every politician today understands the key reason for this war was Ukraine’s desire to become a part of the European Union.”
Trump returning to the White House would certainly alter the dynamics on Capitol Hill, with Marjorie Taylor Greene and the MAGA wing of the Republican party no longer hell-bent on blocking every single thing the president desired, as they have under President Joe Biden.
“Republicans will continue to obstruct any and all initiatives in Biden’s next administration, including Ukraine aid. Should Trump win though, it’s just possible that like with Javelins under Obama, which the GOP approved, they’ll once again be forced to counter Putin’s inevitable intransigence on the peace process by continuing with Biden’s policy of arming Ukraine,” Peter Zalmayev, a top analyst in Kyiv, told The Daily Beast.
He said the major difference under a Trump administration might be “demanding a much greater burden-sharing from European allies,” which would also be welcomed in Kyiv.
Klitschko is looking forward to showing Trump around Kyiv if he is re-elected president. “There are several places where I would definitely take Trump: the first place is the military hospital—Trump should see the young guys starting from age 20 who have lost legs, arms, eyes. It would be necessary to show him Okhmatdyt [the children’s hospital], show him the children who are victims of this war,” he said. More than 10,000 civilians have been killed two years of war, including more than 550 children.
“I want to show Trump multistory buildings that burnt down to the ground. Families were sleeping tight because most of the bombing takes place around 4, 5 a.m. when people are asleep at home. Russians fire everything they have at us: Tsirkons, Kinzhals, the entire arsenal of ballistic missiles that Russia has already tried out on our capital.”
The Ukrainians cannot simply wait for the election period to pass: “Every day is a matter of survival,” Daria Kaleniuk, who co-founded the International Centre for Ukrainian Victory, told The Daily Beast.
Kaleniuk, who has been part of Ukrainian delegations to D.C., says she has been trying to convince recalcitrant Republicans to act faster but after meetings with Rep. Greene, Sen. Graham and Sen. Roger Marshall among others, she is not as confident as Klitscho.
“It’s all useless, we cannot wait for this fight to end—partners should not hold you hostage in their political mess,” Kaleniuk said. “We do hope that Trump helps Ukraine, if he wins—we give it a 50 percent chance.”
Hryhoriy Nemyria, the first deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Ukraine, is also hoping for a resolution prior to the election.
“My understanding is that there is a momentum now for a House deal for Ukraine aid. In this context it is worth reminding all sides involved about the General Douglas MacArthur lesson: ‘The history of failure in war can almost always be summed up in two words: Too late.’ We need U.S. support urgently: long-range fires, air defense, artillery ammunition, mine-clearing equipment, the highest-tech drones, counter-drone, electronic warfare, counter-electronic warfare,” he told The Daily Beast.
Klitschko has one last message for his Republican friends in the U.S.: “Putin has not given up his idea, his goal is to conquer Kyiv. The only way for us to push back is to fight, knock their teeth out with the newest weapons. The average guy in Texas should remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and think about us defending democracy here.”
