Europe

Home page

Europe

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says Ukrainians are fighting for the country's democratic future

01 March 2022 08:13 (UTC +04:00)

Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, told CNN's Anderson Cooper that he is proud of Ukrainian citizens for defending their country and sees the battle ahead as a fight for its future, APA reports citing CNN.

Klitschko said Kyiv is under a "non-stop" attack by Russian troops and what he called "Russian aggression groups."

"We listen to explosions every hour during last night, all last night, the last four days. People are very nervous, they spend a lot of time in bunkers," he said.

Calling Ukrainian soldiers "heroes," Klitschko said he is proud of the country's army and civilians who have taken up arms to defend the capital.

"So many thousands of civilians come and build civilian defenses. People take the weapons and are ready to defend our homes, defend our families, defend our future and our country. And I am very proud," he said.

"We are ready to fight and ready to die for our home country, for our families because it's our home. It's our future and somebody wants to come into our home and steal our future from us."
Klitschko said he was "not ready" to answer how long Kyiv could hold out against the Russian invasion but added it could be a "long time."

In a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the mayor said Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union and it doesn't want Russia back.

"We see our future as a democratic, modern European country. That's it. No discussion. It's our goal. We're fighting for that. We're fighting for our country. We're fighting for our dream," he said.

Klitschko is a former heavyweight boxing champion known as “Dr. Ironfist” and has been mayor of Kyiv since 2014.