"Tomorrow from me," says Volodymyr Zelenskyj when asked if he would like to get into the ring with Vladimir Putin and throw a few punches. The background to this bizarre idea is a conversation between the Russian President and his French counterpart Macron.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would like to step into the ring for a duel with Russian President Vladimir Putin at any time. "Always, always," said the 44-year-old when asked a question in an interview with the French television channel TF1. "A real man, if he wants to say something to someone, or if he wants to - how do you say it, punch him in the face - then he does it himself and doesn't send any middlemen."
He himself would not need any intermediaries for this, emphasized Zelenskyj. He is always open to such suggestions. Is he ready for a duel with Putin? "Tomorrow for me," Zelenskyj laughed. "This will then be the last summit for the President of the Russian Federation." Putin likes to present himself to the public as a fit head of state. But there is always speculation about his health. The President is now 70 years old.
The starting point of the boxing discussion was a report in the newspaper "Le Monde", according to which French President Emmanuel Macron is said to have told his Russian colleague Putin that he was going to box now. Putin then recommended that he imagine hitting Zelenskyy in the process.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president wanted to use the stage at a real sporting event over the weekend to send an anti-war message. In a video shared on social media, Zelenskyy proposed a global peace conference later this winter. CNN reported that Zelenskyi had hoped the video would be shown before the start of the World Cup final broadcast to reach an audience of millions.
"The summit aims to unite all the nations of the world in the cause of global peace," he said in the recording. "The stands of the stadiums remain empty after the games and the cities remain empty after the war." According to Kiev, FIFA turned down the request and did not show the video.
