Oleksandr Usyk honors Ukraine grid workers

Oleksandr Usyk used the buildup to his May 23 fight in Cairo to spotlight a different frontline: Ukraine’s battered power grid. On May 22, the heavyweight champion met Ukrainian veterans now working for energy company DTEK and honored crews restoring electricity after repeated Russian attacks, according to DTEK and Kyiv Post. The appearance extended a partnership Usyk and DTEK launched in 2024 to draw attention to damage across Ukraine’s energy system. It also tied his fight-week platform to a campaign DTEK calls “Fight for Light.” ### Why was Usyk meeting energy workers in Cairo? Cairo was the site of Usyk’s scheduled May 23 bout, and DTEK said a group of Ukrainian veterans traveled there to support him ahead of the fight. Kyiv Post reported that the meeting brought together Usyk and former service members who had returned to civilian life as energy workers restoring electricity in Ukraine. (kyivpost.com) DTEK said the relationship had been built over several years. Kyiv Post reported that Usyk had previously visited DTEK thermal power plants and met restoration crews inside Ukraine, while DTEK said in 2024 that the boxer had joined the company to raise international attention to the country’s civilian energy crisis. ### What exactly did Usyk say about the workers? (kyivpost.com) Usyk described the crews as “champions of light” in remarks published by DTEK and reproduced by Kyiv Post. “My victories are measured in championship belts. Theirs are measured in lights returning to people’s homes,” he said. He added: “I’ve fought some of the strongest opponents in the world. But they fight real darkness.” (kyivpost.com) Those remarks framed the energy workers as part of Ukraine’s wartime civilian effort. Kyiv Post said the workers remain on the frontline by keeping homes, hospitals and cities supplied with power as Russia continues to target critical infrastructure. ### How much damage has Ukraine’s energy sector taken? DTEK said in its May 2024 campaign announcement that Russia had damaged or destroyed 50% of Ukraine’s energy system since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. (kyivpost.com) The company also said that, in the spring of 2024 alone, attacks had damaged or destroyed 80% of Ukraine’s thermal power capacity, 30% of hydroelectric facilities and dozens of critical substations. United24 Media reported in March 2025 that more than 2,300 missiles and drones had targeted critical infrastructure and that DTEK’s power plants had been hit more than 200 times. The outlet, citing DTEK, said the company had restored power to more than 14 million consumers in affected regions since the invasion began. (dtek.com) ### How does this fit into Usyk’s broader campaign with DTEK? DTEK launched the “Fight for Light” partnership with Usyk on May 8, 2024, ahead of his Tyson Fury fight in Riyadh. The company said the campaign aimed to draw global attention to the condition of Ukraine’s energy sector and to seek urgent technical assistance, including generators, transformers and turbines, before winter. (united24media.com) March 19, 2025, marked another public step in that campaign when Usyk visited a damaged DTEK thermal power plant in Ukraine. United24 Media said he met workers there and held a symbolic training session in a damaged control room, calling their work essential to keeping the energy system functioning. (dtek.com) ### Who were the workers being highlighted? Kyiv Post said the Cairo meeting centered on Ukrainian veterans employed by DTEK after military service. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy investor, said it employs 55,000 people across coal, gas, power generation, distribution and supply. May 23 was the next public marker in the campaign, with Usyk’s fight in Cairo and DTEK veterans present in support, according to Kyiv Post. (united24media.com) DTEK’s campaign materials and prior plant visits provide the clearest record of the named participants and the effort’s next stage. (kyivpost.com)