On Sunday, Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko appeared on ABC’s “This Week” with host George Stephanopoulos to discuss the situation on the ground in his city, as well as what this fight means more broadly.
Following a brief back and forth regarding what’s happening in Kyiv today, Stephanopoulos asked Klitschko to explain what Ukrainians need from the West.
The mayor said that Ukrainians “need unity; we need pressure; we need sanctions. We need the weapons support because we stand in front [of] one of the strongest armies in the world, Russian army.”
Despite needs such as weaponry, Klitschko stated that the Russian forces don’t have the same level of will that Ukrainian defenders have.
“President Putin vowed yesterday to eliminate Ukraine if you keep up the fight,” Stephanopoulos said. “How do you respond?”
Klitschko replied that Ukraine isn’t merely buildings or land, but a people, and that despite Russian President Vladimir Putin essentially viewing Ukraine as part of a new USSR, Ukrainians view their “future as democratic, modern European country.”
The mayor concluded by saying that Ukraine isn’t simply fighting for itself, but for the “whole modern world.”
And we expect support from all world because we’re fighting not just for Ukraine, we’re fighting for others. We’re fighting for whole modern world. We have to stop Putin all together.
.@gstephanopoulos: “What do you need from the west to defeat Vladimir Putin?”
Kyiv Mayor @Vitaliy_Klychko: “We need unity, we need pressure, we need sanctions, we need weapon support.” https://t.co/EP7rpnbDHa pic.twitter.com/76AX4MzOCY
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 6, 2022
TRANSCRIPT:
STEPHANOPOULOS: What do you need from the West to defeat Vladimir Putin?
KLITSCHKO: We need unity; we need pressure; we need sanctions. We need the weapons support because we stand in front of one of the strongest armies in the world, Russian army. But the weapons are very important for us. But Russians doesn’t have so huge will and — as we Ukrainians. We actually are very much ready. We defend our city, our houses, our families. We defend our [inaudible] and our future.
And we need — we very appreciate for the friends. We’re very thankful for support, but we have to make much more pressure and help Ukraine. We need the help. We need the help.
We’re still fighting. We still fight for our country and more pressure, more pressure. And unity between all the democratic countries around Ukraine.
STEPHANOPOULOS: President Putin vowed yesterday to eliminate Ukraine if you keep up the fight. How do you respond?
KLITSCHKO: Ukraine is not just land. Kyiv, capital of the country, is not just buildings. People is main our power. We are very appreciate — Ukraine was always friendly nation. We always was friendly country.
We never was aggressive to anyone, but right now, we have huge motivation to defend our future, our country.
Putin has huge ambition to rebuild Soviet empire. We [was in] USSR, and we don’t want back to USSR. We see our future as democratic, modern European country. And we expect support from all world because we’re fighting not just for Ukraine, we’re fighting for [others]. We’re fighting for whole modern world. We have to stop Putin all together.