European boxing champion, 22, killed while defending Ukraine in war: official

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Ukrainian boxing champion Maksym Galinichev, who enlisted as a volunteer following Russia’s invasion, has died, officials announced Friday. He was 22. 

Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs, announced Galinichev’s death on Twitter, adding that Galinichev died while "defending Ukraine in [the] Luhansk region."

A detailed view of the boxing gloves ringside during day one of the Boxing Elite National Championships at Echo Arena on April 29, 2016 in Liverpool, England.   (Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

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"Maksym enlisted as a volunteer and came back to the frontlines twice after being wounded and recovering," Gerashchenko wrote in a tweet. 

"Eternal memory to Hero."

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Tributes for Galinichev poured in on social media. 

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According to the New York Post, won a gold medal for Ukraine at the 2017 European Youth Championships and a silver medal at the Summer Youth Olympics in 2018. 

He also reportedly skipped out on the European Boxing Championship last year in order to keep fighting against the Russian invasion.

Ukrainians walk past the headquarters of International Olympic Committee (IOC) during a protest against the proposed IOC roadmap to organise the return to competition of Russian athletes under a neutral flag, provided that they have "not actively supported the war in Ukraine" in Lausanne on March 25, 2023.  (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

News of Galinichev’s death comes just as the International Olympic Committee faces