Olympic Medals Offer Ukraine a Brief Respite From War

The Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak celebrated after winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.Yevhen Litvinov was brushing his teeth on Thursday morning when his phone started buzzing — a friend had sent him a YouTube video showing the victory of the Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak at the Paris Olympics overnight.

He hit play and watched Mr. Khyzhniak delivering punch after punch to his opponent, Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan. As the final bell rang and Mr. Khyzhniak’s hand was raised, Mr. Litvinov said he was lifted by a surge of pride.

“Pride for the nation, for our athletes,” said Mr. Litvinov, a 48-year-old resident of Kyiv. “It’s not our first gold medal at the…