Andrii, who lives about 70 kilometers (44 miles) from the front line in eastern Ukraine, had served two years in combat and described his injuries — a concussion and taking shrapnel in his right leg from an exploding land mine — as “minor.” Like so many other Ukrainians, he’s lost friends and loved ones.

More than a dozen war veterans from Ukraine will be on hand when Oleksandr Usyk faces Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night in the pair’s fight to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion.

Ukraine's boxer Oleksandr Usyk speaks Thursday as he meets the Ukrainian war veterans at a hotel in Battersea Park in London.

I t's been nearly two years since Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois first met in the ring, on a night that tested both men differently. Since then, both have elevated their positio