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Reacting to news of Alexei Navalny’s death in an interview with FRANCE 24 on Friday, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko blamed the Kremlin for the Russian opposition leader’s “killing”. He said: “In Russia, if you tell your opinion, and if it is different from Vladimir Putin’s, you will be put in prison or be killed.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), Klitschko urged the West to continue backing Ukraine after two years of bloody war. “Everyone in the West has to understand we in Ukraine defend not just our home and our families, we do not defend just our country, but every one of you in Europe and everyone in the world,” he said.
Klitschko lamented the recent decision to replace Ukraine’s top military commander Valery Zaluzhny, saying his ouster was “a mistake”. But he urged the country to remain united in its fight against Russia.
Saving ‘democratic values’ in Ukraine
The mayor of Kyiv said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a threat to democracy in the country and stressed the need for Ukraine to stick to a democratic path. “Ukrainians have to not forget what we are fighting for, we are fighting to make Ukraine a democratic country,” Klitschko warned.
However, he said now was not the time for the war-torn country to hold elections, fearing that “political competition between different parties” in the current situation would “destroy the country from inside”. He did not say whether he intends to run for president.
