ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The mayor of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, spoke to Rudaw's Sangar Abdulrahman on Monday about conditions in his city under siege and the lies he says Russia is spreading about the Russia-Ukraine war, nearing its seventh week.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and has since seized control of parts of the country, so far failing to capture any major city. The city of Kyiv has withstood the Russian onslaught for over over six weeks, but despite harsh sanctions and calls from the international community for the suspension of the invasion, Russia seems determined to go ahead with what its President Vladimir Putin calls “a special operation.” The city - and country - lies embattled, with Russia appearing poised to take the strategic city of Mariupol as of Monday evening.
While Russian forces have not taken the city of Kyiv, hundreds of buildings have been destroyed and civilians shelled, with at least a hundred people dead, including children, Klitschko told Rudaw on Monday. Hundreds are in hospitals across the damaged city, and in the city’s suburbs of Bucha and Borodyanka, which Russian soldiers occupied for a month to the city’s west, almost “every building” is destroyed, he said.
Following Bucha’s recent liberation, bodies are still being found in the streets, and mass graves have been uncovered. International observers and investigators continue to report on harrowing, brutal scenes. Klitschko says at least 300 bodies have so far been found in Bucha, but new ones continue to be found as the rubble of buildings are cleared.
“The Russians lied about everything that happened in Ukraine since the beginning”, the mayor said, with the cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv destroyed. “It’s a war against civilians.”
Klitschko, who has run Kyiv since 2014, said “painful sanctions” should be imposed on Russia for the actions of their army. “The economy in our country is in a very critical condition,” he added, explaining how difficult it would be to rebuild an economy overwhelmingly based on agriculture in a country with many parts “occupied.”
“Right now we have to concentrate on defending our cities and country, then focus on the economy,” the 50-year-old continued. “Thousands and thousands” of civilians have been killed in Mariupol, with the exact number unknown, he said.
On Friday, a Russian missile hit a train station in eastern Ukraine where thousands of civilians had gathered, killing more than 50, he said.
Yet in Kyiv, around “20-30,000 people return” every day, he said. While it’s not entirely safe, there haven’t been any rocket attacks in a week and the city’s civilians are trying to return to normality. Russian forces came close to the city - reaching 20 km from it - but Ukrainian soldiers defended the capital.
British prime minister Boris Johnson traveled to Ukraine this weekend to show his support, holding surprise talks and walking the streets of Kyiv with Zelensky on Saturday.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks the streets of Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a day after a missile strike killed dozens at a railway station in the country's east.
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) April 9, 2022
🎥: AFP pic.twitter.com/jKVJIe0xTI
“This war is the biggest war since the second world war in the European continent and this war can touch everyone,” Klitschko said, dismissing claims that Ukrainians are fascists or Nazis. He called them “lies” and stressed that Ukraine is a “peaceful nation.”
“They [Russia] make a propaganda war, brainwash everyone,” the mayor said.
The war is a “big tragedy not just for Ukraine, but [also a] big tragedy to the Russians because we counted around 20,000 Russian soldiers killed,” he added.
Atrocities continue. Top officials at the United Nations called on Monday for both an investigation into Russia's violence against women and the protection of children in the conflict.
Looking ahead, Klitschko expects a battle in eastern Ukraine in the coming week. "Russia has now directed the battle front towards the Belarusian border, and has moved a large number of its forces to eastern Ukraine," he said.
