The Ukrainian world kickboxing champion was killed in action during the siege of Mariupol

A UKRAINIAN world kickboxing champion has been killed in a fight in the besieged city of Mariupol, his trainer has confirmed.

Maksym Kagal, 30, died Friday fighting Russian troops as part of Ukraine’s Azov Battalion unit.

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In a statement posted to Facebook, coach Oleg Skirta said: “Unfortunately, war takes the best.

“On March 25 Maksym Kagal died while defending the city of Mariupol as part of the Azov special forces.

He added: “Sleep well brother, rest in peace, we will avenge you.”

The talented kickboxer from the city of Kremenchug was crowned world champion in 2014 as part of the ISKA team.

He was described by his coach as “the first adult world champion in the team of Ukraine and just an honest and decent person”.

Kagal’s death came on the same day that another 300 were killed in a brutal bombing of a theater in the city where more than 1,000 terrified people were sheltering.

Currently, Mariupol is being leveled by a squadron of 25 Russian bombers that fly sorties over the city every day – damaging or destroying 90 percent of all buildings.

Around 14,000 elite Russian troops surround the city, and many of the 400,000 residents trapped without electricity or running water drink from puddles to survive.

Bodies lie in the streets, others have been buried in mass graves because the incessant bombardment makes it impossible to hold funerals.

Russian troops also reduced to rubble a school in the city where around 400 civilians were sheltering when the building was hit by TOS-1A thermobaric missiles capable of melting human organs.

The strategic port city has suffered near-continuous bombing and shelling since the Russian invasion began on February 24.

Apocalyptic drone footage shows the extent of the damage to the city, with one official describing it as reduced “to the ashes of a dead land”.

Dashcam footage shared on Twitter shows a desolate, devastated landscape, and eastern European news agency Visegrad writes: “Mariupol looks like a ghost town.”

Human Rights Watch has described conditions in the city as “a freezing hellscape full of dead bodies and destroyed buildings.”

In a Telegram post, Mariupol City Council said five of its six hospitals had been destroyed and 100 new patients needed treatment every day.

But on Monday it was revealed that Russia intends to inflict more suffering on the besieged city after sending Putin’s favorite Chechen warlord to oversee the operations.

Hardman Ramzan Kadyrov, notorious for his medieval methods of torture, reportedly met with Eighth Army commander General Andrey Mordvichev.

The city’s mayor then called for a “complete evacuation” of the city.

Vadym Boichenko told CNN: “Not everything is in our power.

“Unfortunately, today we are in the hands of the occupying forces.”

He added that nearly 5,000 people have been killed in the city since Russian troops besieged it.

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