Ukraine’s next leader? The intriguing threads in Vitali Klitschko film

Vitali Klitschko, whose footwork was derided even during his reign as world heavyweight champion, carefully steps past the feet of a dead body, moving into an apartment building obliterated by Russian missiles. The mayor of Kyiv, once such a brutal force in the boxing ring, urges those around him to proceed with reverence for the deceased, as they set about sifting through the rubble. Dusty photographs and torn pages of literature, as Klitschko stresses, would have been among the most cherished possessions of those to have lived there – those to have died there, during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This scene is one of many in Klitschko: More Than a Fight to highlight the duality of the boxer-turned-politician. Vitali, the older brother of Wladimir – also one of the great heavyweights of their generation – became mayor of Kyiv in 2014, shortly after retiring as a fighter. Vitali has continuously been re-elected, and while the elder Klitschko brother can appear a colder counterpart to his charismatic sibling, there is a dry humour and a warmth beneath his stereotypically steely exterior – one crafted in part by his father, a radically militaristic influence.
Vladimir Klitschko, a soldier who assisted in the clean-up operation after the Chernobyl nuclear powerplant disaster, was so staunch in his Soviet views that his reaction to his sons’ first trip to the US was to invent his own conspiracy theory. According to Vladimir, who later died of cancer seemingly caused by the Chernobyl disaster, the US government had purposefully built a city to convert his sons into anti-Soviet agents. In reality, they were visiting Don King, the famous boxing promoter, after Wladimir won Olympic gold while Vitali served a doping ban (resulting from a banned substance in a prescribed medicine, he says).
This background is documented in the new Sky TV original, directed by Kevin Macdonald, as is the Klitschkos’ next move: politely rejecting King’s offer, feeling that something was off about the American, and signing a deal in Germany. In truth, the time spent exploring Vitali and Wladimir’s boxing careers is minimal in Klitschko, but Macdonald does well to convey the brothers’ achievements in just a handful of scenes – scattered smartly throughout the documentary.
The greater focus is naturally on politics, but also family. “You made my mother cry, you are in trouble,” Wladimir jokes in one scene in the adoring Nadezhda’s kitchen. Meanwhile, Vitali’s ex-wife – model and actor Natalia Yegorova – speaks of how politics came to consume the 53-year-old. Unbeknownst to the Ukrainian public, Valerie and Vitali were navigating a divorce as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. Vitali’s sons also speak of their father’s willingness “to die” for their country, while suggesting that Vitali adopted but adjusted his own father’s approach to parenting – crucially injecting a warmth that Vladimir lacked.
The crux of the documentary, though, is of course Vitali’s service as mayor of Kyiv during Ukraine’s war with Russia. While the ex-boxer’s occasional slip-ups on the microphone and before cameras have made him “memeable”, that served to endear him to the public, and he is evidently far from bumbling (although one scene hilariously depicts him accidentally headbutting the glass protecting a painting).
Throughout the documentary, we see Vitali walking past corpses and consoling distraught widows, parents who have lost their children, and children who have lost their parents. In certain moments, it almost seems that the stress and exhaustion could make Vitali throw in the towel. But he simply cannot. As Macdonald told the audience at a preview screening this week, Vitali genuinely seems to care. As one voice remarked, the former heavyweight champion appears “addicted to politics”.
The most interesting thread in the film is Vitali’s feud with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. You get the impression that, while Vitali does not like the comedian-turned-politican (in part due to Zelensky’s past mocking of the elder Klitschko brother), he would rather they worked together. But Zelensky cannot resist the temptation to jab at Vitali, who in turn highlights his concerns over the president’s regime – and what he sees as attempts by Zelensky to centralise Ukraine’s government.
Macdonald admits to having been questioned over his inclusion of so much of this strand. Some fear that emphasising this division between Vitali and Zelensky could lead to “apathy” in viewers, over the country’s conflict with Russia. But Macdonald stresses the importance of documenting the reality of the situation.
This includes criticism of Vitali in recent times, with some Kyiv locals opposing his decision to rebuild parks and other spaces rather than investing entirely in the war effort. Vitali’s argument is that the point of the war effort is to return “normal life” to Ukraine, and that restoring recreational spaces can help.
The biggest qualm with Vitali, however, came after an incident that saw a bomb shelter remain locked during a Russian attack; a nine-year-old girl and her mother died as a result. Zelensky insinuated that Vitali was to blame. Vitali and his office seemingly found the documents to explain why the incident stemmed from a fault on Zelensky’s part.
All of this is tied to a question posed in the film: does Vitali want to be president?
The 53-year-old is coy when asked, and the answer is admittedly ambiguous, but such a future is conceivable. What is clear is that Vitali does not need to subject himself to the stress and criticism that his job entails, but he feels compelled to help Ukraine – in whatever role is required.
Klitschko: More Than a Fight is a new Sky TV original documentary. The film is available to stream on Sky and NOW from 15 August.