Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko have been at odds for more than five years. Klitschko, an ambitious former boxer, has so far managed to keep the president’s team from bringing the Ukrainian capital to heel. Their rivalry has ebbed and flowed, but it’s flared up again in recent weeks. “I once said our country smells like authoritarianism. Now, it reeks,” Klitschko told The Times in late May 2025. The president’s office has yet to respond publicly to the jab. Journalist and researcher Konstantin Skorkin explains what’s really at stake in the fight between Zelensky and Klitschko.