Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko at the Bloomberg CityLab 2022: “Success of Ukraine is the best answer for our friends and enemies”
During the global cities summit Bloomberg CityLab 2022 Yuliya Tychkivska, Aspen Institute Kyiv Executive Director, held a dialogue with Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of Kyiv. Mr. Klitschko talked about his work during the wartime, defending of Kyiv during the first days of Russian full-scale invasion, and underlined that supporting Ukraine is the key for peace and stability in Europe.
“You don’t have a chance to make a mistake because it can be very painful”
Vitali Klitschko talked about his work as a mayor during the wartime. He said that all these 8 months of Russian full-scale invasion are perceived as one long day. Kyiv City Council has to work 24/7 without any breaks and facing a lot of challenges.
— There are thousands of challenges every day. You have to react to every of these challenges immediately and find appropriate solutions. At the same time you don’t have a chance to make a mistake because it can be very painful. Even in the context of people’s lives. It’s very important to be competent, professional and to have a good team and people around.
We were prepared and they felt how tough Ukrainians want to defend their houses
Talking about defending Kyiv in the first weeks of war, Mayor Klitschko underlined that civil defense in the Ukrainian capital was started to be built before the war. Mayor’s brother, Volodymyr, joined civil defense forces to show the example to other people.
— I am sure that Russians had information about the number of people who were very motivated and ready to defend Kyiv. Battles were at the city limits of Kyiv — 10 km away from the center of the city. Massacres took place in the satellite cities of the Ukrainian capital — Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel. Russians understood that if they entered Kyiv there would be real street beatles. I guess one of the points why Russians decided not to attack Kyiv is that it could be very bloody for them. We were prepared and they felt how tough Ukrainians want to defend their houses.
Supporting Ukraine is the key for peace and stability in Europe
Answering a question about further rebuilding of Ukraine, mr. Klitschko underlined that the first priority is to win the war and kick out the aggressor from Ukrainian territory. Then economical, political success of Ukraine and rebuilding of the country will be the best answer for friends and enemies of the country.
In the context of rebuilding it’s very important to have an agenda with clear steps of what Ukraine has to be and what it has to do to be a real part of the European family. In particular in the case of reforms and rules. There are great examples of such work to be done by Poland, Slovakia and Chech Republic.
Vitali Klitschko also underlined that supporting Ukraine is the key for peace and stability in Europe. Ukrainians really appreciate humanitarian, economical and political support, and defensive weapons that are provided by the partners. It is important to continue standing with Ukraine. He added that it’s wrong to think that Russian-Ukrainian war is far away and doesn’t touch other countries:
— Ukraine has 5 nuclear stations. One of them in the Zaporizhya region was on fire a couple of weeks ago. The explosions could be much bigger than in Chernobyl. And if Russians use tactical nuclear weapons, this war can touch everyone in our panet. It’s very important to keep attention and support Ukraine. We are fighting, and defending not just our homes and our families, we are defending democratic world. We don’t want to live with dictatorship and don’t want to go back to the USSR. We see our future as a modern, democratic country, which is a part of the European family.
