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.

Ukrainian coal miner Andrii’s face lights up when he talks about meeting Oleksandr Usyk. “I watched this fight on the front line on my phone,” he told The Associated Press through an interpreter during a stop Friday at the Ukrainian Embassy in London.