Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko has said that European support for his country is "critically important" as it continues to fight a "senseless war" with Russia.
"We Ukrainians want to part of the European family. We want to build a democratic country," he told RTÉ's News at One.
Mr Klitschko said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "disagreed" as he believed that "Ukraine was never independent" and "belonged to the Russian empire".
"The reason for this war" is that Mr Putin "wants to rebuild the Soviet Union," the mayor added.
"We have a dream and the question is when can peace come to our homeland?"
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Mr Klitschko also defended himself against criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of winter preparations in the city where people are living without heat and electricity amid sub-zero temperatures.
The mayor said that he is not responsible for protecting the skies about Kyiv amid intense Russian attacks.
"We prepare for the winter, we are ready to give the services to our citizens, but we are not responsible for air defence.
"We have a huge problem right now - not just in Kyiv but in the whole of Ukraine - a huge deficit of energy, of electricity" and "that is why we depend on air defence".
"We can prepare for the winter pretty well, but Russia’s missiles destroy our critical infrastructure," the former professional boxer added.
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