Status: 03/31/2022 20:00
One was connected by video, the other spoke personally with the Minister of Economy Habeck in Berlin: The Klitschko brothers asked Germany for help again. An urgent appeal was made to German industry.
The mayor of the Ukrainian capital Kiev Vitali Klitschko has urged German companies to stop doing business with Russia. “Every euro and every penny the Russian Federation receives is invested not in its economy or its people, but in its army,” Klitschko said in a speech that was broadcast live at the Hanover council meeting. “That’s damn money.”
Vitali Klitschko calls for solidarity in a video address to Hanover City Council
Sophie Mühlmann, NDR, night magazine 00:21, April 1, 2022
The result is destroyed cities in Ukraine. Ukrainian women and children paid the blood price. Klitschko used drastic words to describe the destruction in Kiev’s suburbs with countless deaths and people left homeless as a result of the war. He also asked for more weapons for defense. “We are very happy with the support from Germany, but it is not enough.”
Russian propaganda a kind of “brainwashing”
“The most important weapon in this war is not rockets, tanks or machine guns,” emphasized Klitschko. “The most important weapon is the media.” Through state propaganda and suppression of press freedom, the Russian government is trying to persuade people that Russia wants to rid Ukraine of nationalists. It’s a lie and a form of brainwashing.
Many Ukrainians now fighting Russia have Russian as their mother tongue, said the mayor of Kiev. “How can I hate Russia? In my body, half of my blood is Russian blood.”
Hanover Mayor Belit Onay invited Klitschko to the speech. Hanover is the leading city of the “Mayors for Peace” organization (“Mayors for Peace”) in Germany, which includes more than 8,000 cities and towns from 163 countries around the world, including 700 from Germany.
Wladimir, Klitschko’s brother, meets with German politicians
While Vitali Klitschko spoke only virtually to his German audience, his brother Wladimir met with Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck in Berlin. It should be about more economic, humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine, he said. The Kiev delegation also included the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s special representative for sanctions policy, Oleksiy Makjeev, and parliamentarian Halyna Janchenko.
A ministry spokeswoman confirmed the delegation meeting around former world boxing champion Klitschko with Habeck, but did not elaborate on the content of the talks. Later, Klitschko would also meet with Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt.
In the evening, Klitschko emphasized on the “Bild TV” channel that his country needed financial and humanitarian aid. The economy is devastated and in some cities there is no food, water or medical care. E: “We need weapons,” Klitschko said. Decisions on this would have to be made quickly. “We do not have time”