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The Mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, promised Tuesday to local and regional representatives of 46 European countries that “Russian forces will never enter Kyiv.” The mayor said they have fortified every building, street, and corner of the city.
“Never ever will Russians come to our city. I promise that as the mayor of Kyiv, and I told the people, the citizens, I told everyone [that],” the former Ukrainian boxer said.
Addressing the plenary session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Klitschko assured that “nobody feels safe right now in Ukraine” and appealed for his country’s political, economic, and military support from Europe.
“We need weapons,” pleaded the Kyiv councilor, who justified it because they are fighting “one of the most powerful armies on the planet” and warned that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, wants to recreate the former Soviet Union.
His country, he added, has decided to be “democratic and European.” “We don’t want to live under a dictatorship, in a country where there is no human rights, no freedom of the press, or any other freedom for citizens.”
Klitschko defended Ukraine’s peaceful character, claiming that they have never attacked “anyone,” and recalled that in 1994 they were a nuclear power and gave up their arsenal in a bid for peace, in exchange for Russia’s guarantee of independence and territorial integrity.
The mayor was paid tribute by the plenary, which applauded his speech for more than a minute.
Oleksiy Chernyshov, the Ukrainian Ministry of Communities and Territories Development, took part in the session and several times called Russia a “terrorist state,” where 80% of the citizens are allegedly in favor of war.
From a bomb shelter, the minister wondered “how long will foreign companies that continue to work in Russia filling their coffers continue to finance terrorism.”
This congressional body plans to approve this Tuesday a statement condemning the armed attack against Ukraine and assures that “it is not possible to cooperate with the Russian delegation of Congress until the territorial integrity of Ukraine is restored.”
