Ukraine, the deputy in the photo with the Kalashnikov: “If necessary, I’ll use it”

“I have an assault rifle next to me and I’m ready to use it if needed.” Word of Inna Sovsun, member of the Ukrainian Parliament for the opposition party Holos (Voce), who in an interview with Adnkronos explains how she made the decision to be immortalized next to a Kalashnikov, a photo that soon became viral. “I work as a professor. I have been teaching at the university for 12 years. And therefore I am not known to use weapons. I have no military experience or anything else, I never thought I had a rifle and I have never been trained to use it” , the deputy said, recalling how, with the outbreak of the war, “we held an emergency session of Parliament” and “afterwards they gave us the weapons to defend ourselves, to defend our city”. “I imagine that almost all the members of Parliament have received weapons, and some of them are using them at the moment”, continues Sovsun, stating that she joined the territorial defense units. “My job now – she underlines – is to speak to the public. international and explain to the world community the atrocities that Putin is carrying out here in Ukraine. I know that this way I can be very useful and I have the skills, but if I have to, if necessary, I will use the weapon and I will use it only because I do not give up. I am staying here. “In these four days following the outbreak of the conflict, the deputy points out, many people are volunteering by enlisting in the territorial defense units. “A lot of them are untrained and frankly the only time I’ve cried in the last four days was when I saw the lines in front of the army recruiting office. There I saw the spirit of the nation.” “We don’t have a single reason to give up” as the Russians would like. “Right now we are really winning. So this does not make military sense to us”, remarks the deputy, according to which “we have killed far more Russian soldiers than Russia did. So the country that should surrender is Russia. , who really should never have been here in Ukraine to start the war. “Sovsun then expresses his gratitude, on behalf of the Ukrainian government,” for all the support we are receiving “, including the 110 million euros announced by the Minister Luigi Di Maio as a support to Kiev. “I understand that these are not obvious decisions and I appreciate every single effort we make. But we ask for a cover on our skies. A no-fly zone is of paramount importance for Ukraine now – he declares – Right now, we are fighting on the ground very well. , but we need support to stop these atrocious airstrikes. “With the end of the curfew in Kiev nearing, unless otherwise arranged tomorrow morning, there is an” urgent “need for” coordination “to ensure” more food supplies to the city of Kiev. I hope they will be delivered no later than the next 24-48 hours “, highlights the deputy who then launches an appeal to European citizens. “We appreciate anyone who is willing to come to Ukraine. Anyone who wants to help us fight” because “this is actually a fight for the future of Europe and the democratic world.” “We do not have the exact numbers” of how many Europeans are already in Ukraine to fight, but “we have heard of people who have arrived and people who are willing to come”, said the deputy, recalling how in the past few hours President Zelensky announced the creation of a foreign legion. “We must protect Europe and European values ​​from this barbaric aggression”, concludes Sovsun asking Europe to “impose a trade embargo with Russia. This is the greatest thing a European state can do right now. because every single dollar, every single euro that is sent to Russia to buy oil or gas is used to buy weapons with which they kill Ukrainian children and adults. “