Oleksandr Usyk Urges June 10 Talks at Washington Summit
oleksandr usyk used a Washington summit on June 10, 2026 to call for Ukraine and Russia to reach an agreement. The world champion boxer spoke as an ordinary person and a Christian, not as a politician, and said he wants peace.
“We need to reach an agreement. We have reason, we have the same blood – it is red. Everything is being destroyed by our ego and by the absence of God in our lives,” Usyk said at the America’s Adversaries: The Russia Reality summit.
Washington summit remarks
He added that he does not like politics “at all” and prefers genuine human interaction. That framing put his remarks in personal terms, even as he spoke about one of the war’s most charged issues: negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.
Usyk also said the peoples on both sides of the conflict share “the same blood,” and he tied that view to his belief that agreement is still possible. In the same remarks, he said, “I simply know it. I pray, I feel it. I don’t know, maybe the Lord gives me this sense – because we did not start this. I read the Gospel every day. And Ukrainians fight every day for their home.”
Usyk and the war
The boxer said for many years Russia has wanted to destroy the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian history and Ukrainian people. He said he was confident Ukraine would prevail over Russia, while also pointing to faith as the basis for that belief.
He also referred to the commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.” That line sharpened the moral language around his appeal, which came at a public summit in Washington rather than in a sports setting.
Usyk's public stance
Usyk has previously said that the authorities’ actions toward the UOC are dividing the people. On June 10, though, his message was aimed squarely at the war and the need for agreement, delivered by a globally known boxer speaking in front of a Washington audience.
For readers following the war through public figures as much as politics, his comments added another high-profile call for talks from outside the diplomatic track. The immediate takeaway was direct: Usyk wanted negotiations, and he said the case for them starts with shared humanity and ends with a demand to stop the destruction.
