- Wladimir Klitschko declared that
Ukraine will "close the sky on our own" after rejections by the US and other NATO leaders. - "Just give us the weapons. We're going to close the sky on our own," Klitschko told CNN.
Ukrainian former world heavyweight boxing champ Wladimir Klitschko declared that Ukraine will "close the sky on our own" amid Russia's war with the eastern European country after the US and its allies have rejected pleas to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine's skies.
"[If] allies and partners cannot close the sky [over Ukraine,] we will constantly get bombarded with rockets and air strikes," Klitschko, the brother of the mayor of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, told CNN on Tuesday.
Klitschko added, "So if you don't close the sky, just give us the weapons. We're going to close the sky on our own. And we have enough of our will to defend our country. We just need the equipment to do it," according to the
The ex-boxer and member of the Kyiv Territorial Defense called on world leaders to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine and to ramp up economic sanctions against
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the US and its NATO allies have poured weapons and other military equipment into Ukraine.
However, US President Joe Biden and NATO leaders have repeatedly rejected calls by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to implement a no-fly zone over the country as it would require the alliance to shoot down Russian warplanes.
NATO has said that establishing a no-fly zone would escalate the Russian invasion of Ukraine, turning it into "a full-fledged war in Europe, involving many more countries and causing much more human suffering."
Meanwhile, Russia on Tuesday announced the start of a new phase of its attack on Ukraine in the eastern region of the country.
"Another stage of this operation [in eastern Ukraine] is beginning and I am sure this will be a very important moment of this entire special operation," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with India Today, according to the state-owned TASS news agency.
Klitschko told CNN that he believes Russian troops will "of course" move further west if they take control of the eastern territory of Ukraine and warned that Ukrainian forces are expecting the Russians to return to Kyiv.
"We expect everything and anything, especially in regards to the capital. Of course, we're waiting for them to come back. We're expecting that," Klitschko told CNN. "If you invade the country, obviously you're aiming at the capital of the country."
Russian forces recently withdrew from the area around Kyiv after several weeks of war in which Russian troops failed to capture the capital.
"We can only defend our country during the war with the weapons. There is no other way. Otherwise, this senseless killing of the civilian population and destruction of our infrastructure is going to continue," Klitschko said, according to CNN. "I don't think we need any military. We just need weapons to defend ourselves."