The mayor of the Ukrainian capital speaks in Barcelona about the error that would mean considering that the invasion of Russia is a “distant conflict”, since it could “destabilize” the entire continent
During the first nine months of the siege, the population has received 600 attack notices on their mobile phones so that they immediately move to the shelters
It is impressive to see the kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschkowalk through the halls of the smart city congress that these days are celebrated in the facilities of Barcelona Fair from L’Hospitalet. It impresses by its height, but, above all, by the huge and subtle security entourage that surrounds you and accompanies you everywhere. He is not for less, he is the most important man in the capital of Ukrainethe country that has accumulated nine months of invasion by Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Klitschko has filled one of the conference rooms to talk about how technology is helping them cope with the bombing of the Russian army. But he has done much more than that, he has remembered that this war is anything but a distant conflict that does not affect us.
It is curious that robots that deliver goods are presented at the same fair and that in the next room there is talk of an application that allows warn the population of kyiv that an attack is taking place over the city and that they have to go down immediately to the shelters. Since February 24, when Russia began the invasion of Ukraine, the mayor has reported, the neighbors have received 600 messages like this: “Air raid siren, please go to the bomb shelters.” “Resilience through digitization“, summed up Klitschko, who has raised to the public on a couple of occasions, in a room that has become too small for the number of people who wanted to hear his address.
war without rules
kyiv, like any other European city, is immersed in a process of modernization and automation of processes. They started in 2016 and were first hit by covid. They implemented things as familiar as the smart parking in the street, the digital ticket on public transport, the electronic appointment for any public procedure, the participatory municipal budgets or the installation of more than 7,000 cameras in the center of the city. “But the great challenge was to face the biggest war in europe since world war ii“, has maintained, leaving a little aside the crude conflict of the 90s in the Balkans which ended with the dismemberment of the former Yugoslavia and left more than 130,000 dead.
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“What is happening in Ukraine it’s a genocide. It is not a war, because in a war there are rules, such as not touching children. They have destroyed 40% of infrastructures linked to energy of the city with the aim of making winter very hard for us. They want the citizens of kyiv to be depressedbut they won’t get it. people are angry and willing to do whatever it takes to defend her country, her home and her children’s future,” Klitschko shared.
The mayor of kyiv ended his speech by appealing to the europe empathy. He has given thanks for the support and help and has insisted that it would be a mistake to consider this a distant conflict. “It is a war capable of destabilizing all of Europe. We are fighting for our country and the future of our children, but we are also fighting for all of you,” she concluded.