A Ukrainian lawmaker said on Friday that Russia’s brutality during its invasion of the country is evidence it cannot be trusted to uphold future peace and described its acts as “genocide.”
Kira Rudik, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, told CNN in an interview from Kyiv that fellow lawmakers were heartbroken over the news on Thursday of evacuation corridors in the besieged city of Mariupol — where estimates of tens of thousands of civilians are trapped — failing to hold.
“We had at least five buses of women and children ready to go, and we were not able to take them out because Russians didn’t stop firing. We were not able to get the ceasefire from them, though beforehand they promised to do that,” Rudik said.
“So, could you even imagine what these women and children felt sitting there in the buses for, I don’t know, a couple of hours waiting if their life will be spared or not. And they were not. They had to return back.”
Russian atrocities have made it apparent to Ukrainians that the entirety of the nation must be defended at all costs, she said, noting the slain civilians found in cities north of Kyiv after Russian forces retreated.
“We are aware about what’s facing us if we fail. I have been to Bucha. I know what they will do to us. And I don’t want this to happen to myself, to any of the people that I love. That’s why we are fighting. We’ll be fighting for every single inch right until the end.”
Rudik said she had faith in the international community to try and help put pressure on Russia moving forward, but called out countries for taking “halfway” acts — condemning the invasion yet still conducting trade with Russia.
Referencing Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, she added, “I understand that it takes time for the world to adapt to the truth that we in Ukraine have known for eight years. You cannot trust Russia.”
Rudik told CNN she did not have faith in settlements or negotiations because of Russian aggression, equivalating Putin’s acts with Nazi Germany in World War II.
“This is why we are explaining to the world that what’s happening in Ukraine is called genocide. This is why we’re explaining to the world that you cannot get into any peaceful agreement with Russia, because in comparison it is like going into a peaceful agreement with Hitler and saying, ‘Oh, we will talk to him and probably he will spare some lives of the Jews,'” she said.
Further evacuations of Mariupol: Shelling near the extraction point prevented people from being evacuated Thursday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk had said.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Donetsk regional military administrator, said 79 residents of the besieged city of Mariupol were safely evacuated to Zaproizhzhia on Thursday.
More News
‘We Can’t Sleep’: Houstonians Still Without Power Struggle to Stay Cool
Sean Combs Apologizes After Video Shows Him Assaulting Cassie
U.S. and Niger Announce Withdrawal of American Personnel by September