Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says Russian troops have surrounded the Ukrainian capital and plan to strangle it through a blockade as Moscow's attack on Ukrainian towns and cities continues.
Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine
RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
Klitschko told Current Time on March 2 that Ukrainian troops continue to disrupt such attempts by the Russian troops and have been finding sabotage groups operating in Kyiv.
"I can say that there are obvious plans by Russians [to surround the capital to take it in a blockade]," Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, said.
"At this moment, our guys are returning a proper response to them. Even the groups that reach Kyiv's outskirts are being kicked several kilometers back," he said, adding that “we will do everything we can" to break any blockade.
Klitschko said that the situation in Kyiv is "tense, but comparatively calm," emphasizing that despite intensive shelling of the city by Russian troops, the communication sector is working properly in the Ukrainian capital.
He added that a television tower bombed by the Russians on March 1 was again working.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
Kyiv TV Tower Hit By Deadly Russian Airstrike
"A huge number of people, civilians are taking part in defending the city.... We have our partners, our will, our beloved land, which we are not going to give up," Klitschko said.