CBS News
Ukrainian gold medal-winning boxer returns home to lift spirits amid war
Ukraine’s gold medal-winning boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak gave a military salute to the crowd gathered to celebrate his return to the war-torn country from the Paris Olympics.
Stepping out of the special Olympic Express train at Kyiv’s central railway station, Khyzhniak, 29, greeted fans, friends and family. The athlete from Poltava is also a serviceman of Ukraine’s border guard.
He’s the first gold-medal winner in the 2024 Olympics to bring the award to his home country.
“I truly dedicate this award to every Ukrainian, to everyone who helped and supported me, who was by my side, cheered for me all over the world,” Khyzhniak said upon his arrival Saturday.
In the men’s middleweight category, Khyzhniak defeated Nurbek Oralbay from Kazakhstan. Ukraine has also won gold medals in women’s team fencing and the women’s high jump.
A star-struck fan, Volodymyr Honchar, 13, was brought to the Kyiv train station by his mother to welcome his idol and get his boxing glove signed by the Olympic champion.
“His victory will raise the spirits of all Ukrainians, will make us all feel good, will make us all stronger,” Honchar told The Associated Press.
Khyzhniak’s victory and other Ukrainian wins in Paris have lifted the spirits of many Ukrainians in the 2 1/2-year war against Russia. Troops are locked in deadly combat along the 620-mile border.
Khyzhniak’s home region of Poltava, just 30 miles from Russia, is an area that has been a constant target for Russian air attacks.
“Every time while at the competition or preparing for the competition, when I saw on my phone that air alert was announced in the Poltava region, of course I was worried about Ukraine,” said Khyzhniak. “I was worried about my family and I hoped that our military would protect all of us.”
CBS News
Husband of Russia’s richest woman arrested for murder after deadly shootout at offices of retail giant Wildberries
The estranged husband of Russia’s richest woman and CEO of retail giant Wildberries was arrested Thursday and charged with several crimes including murder, a day after a deadly armed raid at the company’s central Moscow offices.
Billionaire Tatyana Bakalchuk released a tearful message a day earlier, saying her husband Vladislav Bakalchuk, whom she is currently divorcing, led an armed raid into the Wildberries offices.
Vladislav Bakalchuk’s lawyers said in a message on his social media page that he was “detained for 48 hours” and charged with murder, attempted murder, assault of a law enforcement officer and vigilantism.
Two people, including a security guard, were killed in the shooting at the offices, which lie a few streets away from the Kremlin.
The incident came weeks after the company finalized a merger deal that Vladislav criticized and that strongman Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov vowed to stop.
Vladislav’s lawyers said he was on his way to a “pre-agreed meeting to settle a corporate conflict.” Vladislav alleges that it was staff at the office who fired the first shots, the Reuters news agency reported.
But Bakalchuk called her husband’s claims “absurd” and said “no one agreed to any negotiations.”
“Vladislav, what are you doing? How are you going to look in the eyes of your parents and our children?”
Wildberries is Russia’s largest online retailer. Tatyana Bakalchuk founded the company in 2004, growing it from an online clothes reseller into a major marketplace for countless other products, Reuters reported.
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index in 2021, she was the 40th richest woman in the world and the first self-made woman billionaire out of Russia.
Tatyana Bakalchuk is the majority oner of the company, while her estranged husband holds a one-percent stake.
CBS News
Eye Opener: More deadly explosions of communication devices in Lebanon
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
CBS News
Teamsters union doesn’t endorse a presidential candidate for the first time since 1996
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.