Former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko enlisted in Ukraine’s reserve army in Kyiv, saying that love for his country compelled him to defend it, writes Reuters.

Ukraine has been bracing for a possible military offensive after Russia assembled tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine’s borders in recent weeks, though Moscow says it has no plans to invade.

Both Wladimir and his brother Vitali Klitschko, the Mayor of Kyiv and also a former heavyweight boxing champion, were present during the opening of a Territorial Defence Forces recruitment centre in the capital.

“One district from here, my little girl is going to school. The school is currently closed because the ambassadors have sent the families home”, Wladimir Klitschko said, referring to a partial drawdown by some embassies.

“It is the love, the love for my city, my home, my family, my neighbours, my daughter that has brought me here today, that I took this initiative and am now taking part in this territorial defence”.