Ukrainian boxing champion Maksym Galinichev, who enlisted as a volunteer following Russia’s invasion, has died, officials announced Friday. He was 22.
Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs, announced Galinichev’s death on Twitter, adding that Galinichev died while “defending Ukraine in [the] Luhansk region.”
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“Maksym enlisted as a volunteer and came back to the frontlines twice after being wounded and recovering,” Gerashchenko wrote in a tweet.
“Eternal memory to Hero.”
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Tributes for Galinichev poured in on social media.
According to the New York Post, won a gold medal for Ukraine at the 2017 European Youth Championships and a silver medal at the Summer Youth Olympics in 2018.
He also reportedly skipped out on the European Boxing Championship last year in order to keep fighting against the Russian invasion.
News of Galinichev’s death comes just as the International Olympic Committee faces immense backlash following its recommendation on Tuesday that individual athletes from Russia and Belarus should be allowed to return to competition under a neutral status as long as they have no military links.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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