Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko urged the international community to help on Friday when she was interrupted by the sound of planes flying overhead.
“If this continues at the level that is happening now, these air strikes are happening, the tanks are rolling in, and Ukraine will not be able to hold out long against such massive Russian aggression, and we need help,” she told CNN from Kiev. 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, looking out her window off the camera. “I’m sorry,” she said, “As we speak, there were several planes flying in the direction of the city. We know from the president’s speech only a few minutes ago that the air strikes will now begin almost now.” Rumbling noise in the background.
“We’re all exhausted from this, because we have helicopters, and we have planes, and fighter jets, flying everywhere everywhere. And every time we hear a noise, it’s like looking out the window, where are you going? Are you going to hit or are you going to miss?”
She added that despite the fear, she also felt faith in “the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian people.”
“The people here are brave and do not want to abandon their country,” she said. “We don’t want to live under someone’s rule, whoever it is. We are a free people. We fought for our freedom. Our men and women died for that freedom.”
