If you had three wishes, what would they be? If Kira Rudik could have one wish for the world, she would want “bravery”.
The Ukrainian parliamentarian and leader of the Holos political party, speaking to Niall Paterson on the Sky News Daily podcast, said she hopes others can “stand up to tyranny.”
As part of a special miniseries on the Daily podcast, Paterson asks people in politics, entertainment and sports how they would use three wishes to change the world, their country and their lives.
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Before becoming an MP in 2019, Rudik was COO of home security company Ring in Ukraine. She is still in the capital Kyiv.
One of her reasons for becoming an MP was to build a better future for her country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine in 1991.
“One of the dreams that I had, that I still have, is that the next generation of children [will] I don’t know the things I experienced,” he told Sky News Daily.
“What I feel right now is that this dream is being robbed of us, because the children who are growing up now already know all those traumas. They know how to hide when the air raid sirens are on. They have seen corpses. I’ve seen things that are much worse. This is terrifying.
“This is something that I, on a personal level, cannot forgive, because we had this dream [and] we are all afraid now. And we’ll have to find a way to fix it.”
As the war in Ukraine enters its 11th month, regular power outages and shelling from Russia are common.
“We will be celebrating this Christmas and New Year in one of the harshest winters since World War II. We all know that,” Rudik said.
His wish for his country is that his Ukrainian compatriots have a better and warmer “Christmas and New Year, because I know it will be very important for us [get] through this winter”,
He added: “I can’t begin to tell you how united people are right now, even with all the obstacles that are going on. There’s just no ending other than winning this war. And I truly believe that [we can].”
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Producers: David Chipakupaku and Alys Bowen
Junior Producer: Jada-Kai Meosa John
Additional Writing: Soila Apparicio
Editors: Paul Stanworth and Philly Beaumont
