We'll fight Russia: Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik

Holding a Kalashnikov gives me hope, Ukrainian Member of Parliament and leader of Ukraine's Voice Party Kira Rudik told India Today on Saturday.

"I was very very angry when the war started. I am still very angry. I still don't understand how the neighbouring country (Russia) and Putin can deny Ukraine the right to exist and I am very angry that I am being made to leave my town and my family is threatened and we are all put under threat just because the crazy dictator is telling us so," Kira Rudik said. The Ukrainian MP went on to add that she wants to stay in Kyiv. Kira Rudik said that her partner and most of her friends have also picked up arms to fend for themselves.

"I am protecting my family and I am organising the resistance group that is fighting Russians on our streets because they need to go back to where they came from our soil because we are an independent country and will protect our sovereignty no matter what, because I want my children to live in Ukraine that I'm building for them not some Vladimir Putin," said Rudik.

The Ukrainian MP told India Today that she had to convert the shoe cupboard under her staircase into a bunker. She added that whenever sirens indicating an attack go off, Rudik and her children play the "turtle game" where they go down on the ground on their bellies, open their mouths and close their ears and pretend to be a turtle.

Asked how she felt after picking up a weapon for the first time, Kira Rudik told India Today, "It is scary and powerful at the same time. It makes me feel that I can protect my country. It will not be a Russian soldier against me unarmed."

Rudik also said that she and others are receiving training on how to store and use the weapon. The Ukrainian MP says many Ukrainian women, including her fellow legislators, have picked up arms to fight Russian troops.

Kira Rudik told India Today that a situation where she had to pick up arms to protect her family makes her sad, but this was not Ukraine's choice. "It is sad that there's no going back to how we were," she says.

'No way Putin can have our capital'

The Ukrainian Member of Parliament goes on to say that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not expect the resistance his troops are facing in Ukraine.

"I hope Putin changes his mind and calls his soldiers back. We can go back to normal. I can give this Kalashnikov up. We can all pretend that when we are telling our children to go down to the ground when the siren is on, then it was all just like a dream going down to the bomb shelter," said Kira Rudik.

She added, "If he [Putin] does not withdraw his troops, then we will have to stand for every inch of our soil and we will do it. And the whole of Ukraine is ready for that.

Rudik, however, adds, "I really hope that at some point, I will have to return the Kalashnikov back to where I took it and just say thank god I never needed it."