In one corner is Vitali Klitschko, the towering mayor of Kyiv who, when he was a world champion heavyweight boxer, was renowned for his knockout power. In the other is President Zelensky, the diminutive president who has demonstrated remarkable staying power during three years of war with President Putin.
The two men are perhaps Ukraine’s most internationally recognised politicians. But they are now effectively at war after a simmering grudge between them became public. Zelensky has forced Klitschko, who is said to harbour presidential ambitions despite an aborted run in 2014, into a political clinch from which his escape looks improbable. The president has used martial law to appoint a rival military administration in the capital to mirror the mayor’s responsibilities.
