Kyiv City Mayor Vitaliy Klychko commented on the Russian shelling of the capital on 14 March 2022. He emphasized that the city's defense had been lasting for almost three weeks, although Russian troops planned to take it in two days.
"We have nowhere to run; these are our homes, our families, our city. Our country. And everyone who comes to us should feel uncomfortable," Klitschko told "Radio Svoboda."
He said that a nine-story building in the Obolon district of Kyiv was destroyed today due to the shelling.
"To the people who live in this house, I offered a place where they can spend the night, evacuate ... A man in his 55s, maybe 60s, turned to me and said, 'I don't want to leave, and I'm not going anywhere, this is my city, my houses. I no longer have a home, but I will defend the city. A request to you as a mayor: give me a weapon, I have nothing left, but the city remains." Such actions as we see today, explosions, provocations against civilians, they give even more indignation to each of us, more hatred, "Klychko said.
The mayor emphasized that he had never heard from Kyiv residents who remained in the city about fleeing or giving up. Klychko added that most women and children had already left, while most men stayed.
"The Russians say they are shooting at military targets, look - there is a civilian lying there," Klitschko added, recalling the shelling of Kurenivka.
"Territorial defense battalions are being formed, training is underway, and every street, every home, every crossroads, every checkpoint is now a fortress to repel anyone who encroaches on our city. As mayor, I want to address everyone: plans to take the city. "It's just someone's plans, nonsense that someone has drawn in their head. No one will be able to do it because we stay here and will defend our city, and we will not give it to anyone," Klychko said.
Today about 5 o'clock in the morning, the artillery shell hit an apartment house in the Stolychna Obolon district. As a result of the explosion, one person died, and ten more were injured. About 70 residents were evacuated from the house.
At about 11:00, air defense forces shot down a Russian missile over Kyiv. Its wreckage fell on a residential building in the Podil district of Kyiv.