Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko was urging the international community to give assistance on Friday when she was interrupted by the sound of jets flying overhead.
“If this continues at the level it is happening now, these air strikes happening, the tanks rolling in, Ukraine will not be able to stand for long against such a massive Russian aggression, and we need assistance,” she told CNN from Kyiv. She added that more sanctions are needed, as well as more weapons in Ukraine and the closure of the country’s airspace.
She paused for a while, glancing out of her window off camera. “I’m sorry … as we speak, there were several planes flying in the direction of the city. And we know from the President’s address just several minutes ago that air strikes are to begin right about now,” she said, with a rumbling noise in the background.
“We are all exhausted from this, because we have helicopters, we have airplanes, fighter jets, flying all around all the time. And every time we hear a noise, it’s like looking out of the window, where is it going? Is it going to hit or is it going to miss?”
She added that despite the fear, she also felt faith “in the Ukrainian army and in the Ukrainian people.”
“People here are brave and are not up to giving up their country,” she said. “We do not want to live under somebody’s rule, whoever it is. We are a free people. We have fought for our freedom. Our men and women have died for this freedom.”
