Polish border guards tell details of Usyk's detention at Krakow airport

Ukrainian boxer and Polissya football player On Tuesday, Oleksandr Usyk was unable to board a flight from Krakow to Thessaloniki because the airline, Ryinair, did not allow the person accompanying him to board the flight.

Jacek Michalowski, a spokesman for the Carpathian Division of the Polish Border Guard Service, and Natalia Wince, a spokeswoman for Krakow's Balice Airport, toldUkrinformabout the details of the incident.

"The case concerned two citizens of Ukraine. One of them was not allowed to board the flight, and the other said he would not fly without him," Michalowski said, adding that the person who accompanied the famous Ukrainian was not allowed to board the flight.

According to him, as a result, the carrier did not allow both Ukrainians to board the flight. They lost their passenger status, but did not want to leave the gate.

"This caused a delay in the departure of the plane, and given that they did not respond to the requests of the carrier's employees to leave the area, border guards from the special response team were called in accordance with the procedure," Mikhalovsky said.

According to the border guard, one of the Ukrainians was handcuffed.

"But it was a preventive measure to bring him to the office, where he was immediately unshackled. The men did not resist, but were in an agitated state," emphasized Mikhalovsky.

According to him, they were interviewed, and the Ukrainian consul also arrived at the airport.

"The detainees did not receive any punishment, but only a warning," stated the spokesman for the Carpathian Department of the Border Guard of the Republic of Poland.

He noted that this is not an exceptional situation: such incidents occur at this airport several times a week. The border guard also clarified that due to this incident, the Krakow-Thessaloniki flight departed an hour late.

In turn, in a comment to the agency, the spokeswoman for the Krakow Balice Airport, Natalia Wince, said that after the incident, the Ukrainian boxer and his accompanying person left the airport and did not return to the Krakow airport.

The spokespersons for the Carpathian Division of the Polish Border Guard and Balice Airport did not say what the reason was for not allowing the person accompanying Usyk to board the plane.