Kyiv Mayor's Message to Russian Troops Near Ukraine Capital: 'Patriotic Waves' Will 'Defend Our City'

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Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has a defiant message for Russian troops nearing Ukraine's capital city in their ongoing invasion.

"We're ready to fight," he said Sunday, in a message projecting confidence in the resistance against the powerful Russian force. "We defend our city."

Klitschko, a former professional boxer who has been the mayor Kyiv since 2014, said residents are part of, in his words, "huge patriotic waves" of people who were preparing if necessary to fend off Russian troops, reportedly only 15 miles from the city's center.

The newly armed citizens were "people who never, ever expect to take weapons in hand to defend houses, children and our future — future of our country," Klitschko, 50, said in an interview alongside his brother, Wladimir Klitschko, with CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday.

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Wladimir, 45, is also a former boxer and enlisted in Ukraine's reserve army ahead of the Russian invasion, which began Feb. 24.

"The whole country is highly motivated to stop Russian aggression and the war," Wladimir told Bash in the joint interview. "We all stand together and we're highly motivated to defend our country because this is our home. That's where our children were going to school. That's where our relatives [are] buried in the ground. This is our home and there's no other way that we're going to leave and why? Because this is our home. So we will defend the country until last drop of the blood."

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Referring to reports of mayors in other Ukrainian cities being taken by Russian forces, Bash asked the elder Klitschko if he was worried about being a target.

"Yes, of course," he said. "Right now, it's every Ukrainian is target."

"It's a war against the whole population, against every Ukrainian," he added. "I don't worry about me, myself. I'm ready to fight and ready to defend the interests of citizens."

In an interview with France 24, Mayor Klitschko said Russians were "trying to make a circle around Kyiv" and hope to destroy the city. "But our soldiers, Ukrainian soldiers, destroyed the plans of Russians and we are very proud to have very tough soldiers who defend our houses, our city and our country."

GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Kyiv, Ukraine, Mayor Vitali Klitschko

Klitschko said his city still had power, heat and water — though other parts of Ukraine were not so lucky — "but the situation is not easy" because Kyiv's citizens have already spent "two weeks underground" to avoid "non-stop bombing attacks" by Russians.

"No panic," he said of the mood in his city, but "people are very nervous."

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The mayor also called on the international community, which has stood in near-perfect unison against the unilateral aggression by offering aid to Ukraine while piling up sanctions against Russia, to do more to help his country fight and to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The key which can stop this war is the unity of all. We have to make pressure, political pressure, sanction pressure and, please, weapons delivering to Ukraine," Klitschko said.

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He said the fight was not Ukraine's alone but rather an effort to defend the ideals of its allies.

"We're fighting for exactly the same values, for same principles," he said. "This war can touch anyone, everyone, everyone in the European Union, in Europe, and can touch everyone in the world."

Wrapping up the interview, the mayor's younger brother added, "Please continue supporting us. It's very important for the peace in Europe and in Ukraine."

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Russia's attack on Ukraine continues after their forces launched a large-scale invasion last month — the first major land conflict in Europe in decades.

Details of the fighting change by the day, but hundreds of civilians have already been reported dead or wounded, including children. More than 2 million Ukrainians have also fled, the United Nations says.

"You don't know where to go, where to run, who you have to call. This is just panic," Liliya Marynchak, a 45-year-old teacher in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, told PEOPLE of the moment her city was bombed — one of numerous accounts of bombardment by the Russians.

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The invasion, ordered by Putin, has drawn condemnation around the world and increasingly severe economic sanctions against Russia.

With NATO forces massing in the region around Ukraine, various countries have also pledged aid or military support to the resistance. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for peace talks — so far unsuccessful — while urging his country to fight back.

Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.

"Nobody is going to break us, we're strong, we're Ukrainians," he told the European Union in a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, "Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness."

The Russian attack on Ukraine is an evolving story, with information changing quickly. Follow PEOPLE's complete coverage of the war here, including stories from citizens on the ground and ways to help.