Ukrainian kickboxing world champion dies in Mariupol

Created: 03/29/2022, 15:34

By: Marius Epp

Coach Oleg Skirta posted this photo of Maksym Kagal on Facebook after his death.

In the background the flag of the right-wing extremist "Azov".

© Screenshot/Facebook

The Ukrainian kickboxing world champion Maksym Kagal was killed in the war.

He was part of a controversial task force defending Mariupol.

Mariupol - The Ukrainian port city of Mariupol has been particularly hotly contested for weeks.

Now a prominent athlete has died at the front: Former kickboxing world champion Maksym Kagal died on Friday fighting Russian forces.

His trainer Oleg Skirta confirmed the death of his protégé on Facebook.

“Unfortunately, war takes the best.

On March 25 Maksym Kagal died while defending the city of Mariupol as part of the Azov special forces.

Sleep well brother, rest in peace.” Kagal became world kickboxing champion in 2014.

Now he died at the age of 30.

Maksym Kagal is dead: kickboxing world champion was part of the "Azov regiment"

Kagal was part of the Ukrainian special unit "Regiment Azov", which is at least suspected of using a number of right-wing extremist fighters.

Volunteers founded the militia in 2014, and a year later it was incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard.

, on the same day that Kagal died,

a theater in Mariupol was bombed, killing 300 people.

It is not clear whether the athlete was also in the theater.

Almost 5,000 residents are believed to have died in Mariupol.

The city has been cut off from all supplies for weeks.

Ukraine War: Kickboxer dies in Mariupol

Strategically, the city is particularly important because if it were captured, Russia could establish a land corridor across Crimea.

The city council speaks of “more and more starvation deaths”*.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the construction of humanitarian corridors is always thwarted by Russia.

Russia recently announced that it intends to focus on the “liberation of Donbass”, so the situation in Mariupol and in the east of the country is expected to deteriorate.

Kagal is not the only Ukrainian athlete who lost his life in the war.

A few weeks ago, the young biathlon star Yevgeny Malyshev* and the soccer professionals Vitalii Sapylo (21) and Dmytro Martynenko (25) died.