Mayor Vitali Klitschko determined to take up arms to defend Kiev in case of Russian invasion

“I will defend Kiev with weapons in hand”, The mayor of the Ukrainian capital and former world heavyweight boxing champion, Vitali Klitschko, said in an interview with AFP that he was willing to change his jacket for a military uniform in the event of a Russian invasion.

“I always train. I follow training as a former officer and head of territorial defense. I know how to use almost all weapons”, underlines Klitschko50, in his office in Kyiv.

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“We understand that Russia has one of the most powerful armies in the world,” but “Any aggressor has to know: [invadir Ucrania] it will cost you dearly, we will not give up”continues this two-meter colossus, with an energetic attitude.

5,000 bomb shelters

Russia concentrated more than 100,000 soldiers on its border with Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week, according to US intelligence services, that he could surround Kiev and overthrow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 48 hours.

But Klitschko consider that this is onlya hypothesis” and that its services have been prepared to “the worst case scenario”; come the case, he affirms, everything is ready for “a partial evacuation of Kiev”, a city of three million inhabitants.

The mayor maintains that the capital has 5,000 anti-aircraft shelters, although many have been converted in recent years into beauty salons or strip bars.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it. The owners take care of them and [lo refugios] They are in good condition”, He says Klitschko smiling.

“We understand that neither the Germans, nor the French, nor the Americans are going to defend us. It is our business, it is our land”, affirms the mayor, who has run the city for eight years.

“Thousands of reservists”

Klitschko However, he does not hide his disappointment with Germany, where he trained as a boxer, which according to Ukraine blocks the deliveries of some weapons, provided for in the framework of the Eastern European country’s cooperation with NATO.

“At such a critical moment, it is difficult to understand that weapons are not delivered or that Germany blocks deliveries of defensive weapons”as concerned as she is about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the mayor said.

That controversial pipeline is supposed to route Russian gas to Germany without going through Ukraine.

“I officially ask our partners to settle which side they are on: on the side of Ukraine, which is defending itself, or on the side of the aggressor”, he continued.

Klitschko expects to receive next Monday the head of the German government, Olaf Scholz. “We will have something to discuss”, comment.

The former boxer asks for more than words of support.

“If a war breaks out in Ukraine, one of the largest countries in Europe, the whole of Europe will be destabilized.”alert.

His younger brother, Wladimir, also a former boxing champion, enlisted as a reservist.

“We have thousands of reservists. Every day we receive a hundred calls from people who want to enlist in the territorial defense of Kiev”says the mayor.

The Ukrainian army, confronted since 2014 with pro-Russian separatists in the east, has improved its capabilities since the start of the conflict.

“We have to be strong. The strong are not attacked, they are feared.” proclaims Vitali Klitschko.

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Source: Elcomercio

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