Viktor Postol’s wife and children in Ukraine “Sleeping on the ground because of a bomb attack”

By: Sean Crose

Credit to FightHub’s Marcos Villegas for reaching out and speaking to Ukrainian fighters who were deeply affected by the Russian invasion of their homeland. On Thursday, he posted an interview with former lightweight standards athlete Viktor Postol, whose wife and children were in Ukraine while the war raged. “My family is currently in Ukraine,” Postol said. “So it’s a tough situation.” With a fight with Gary Russell scheduled for Saturday, 38-year-old Postol is trying to balance here in the states, but admits it’s no easy task. “I think about it and I worry about it,” he told Villegas, “but I try to focus on the fight. It’s hard. It’s hard.”

“It is night in Ukraine, and my family, my wife and children, they sleep on the ground because of the bombing,” the fighter said. “Are they in a bunker?” Villegas asked. “Yes,” Postol replied through his interpreter, “like some kind of bunker.” Postol said the Ukrainian government is trying to keep its citizens from panicking. “The government says keep calm, don’t fight, stay at home,” Postol said, “and when they bomb, just go downstairs, on the ground.” Then Villegas asked Postol looking very worried about how he was going to get home. “I don’t know,” Postol replied, shaking his head in English. “I don’t know… maybe I will fly to Poland or Romania,” he added, “and after that I will try to cross the border by car.”

Having said that, Postol said he did not want to leave his hometown when he returned. “I’m going to Ukraine because that’s the military situation right now, so nobody’s going to leave the country.” Villegas told the mayor of Kiev and former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko that he would take part in the battle against the Russian army and asked Postol what he thought of it. “Every Ukrainian will do the same…and I will do the same,” he said. Fighter 33-3 went on to state that he did not believe the war could go on for long due to the massive loss of life that a continued large-scale invasion would result. In the end, however, Postol appeared baffled by the whole thing.

“It was just madness,” he told Villegas earlier in the interview. “It was just a big madness, and I don’t understand why because we used to be friends, Russia and Ukraine, and now it’s a war and I just don’t understand why. That is madness. ”