Chicago supports Kharkiv! The Mayors held a video conference. Media report

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov met in Zoom to agree on political, humanitarian and economic support for Kharkiv and Ukraine in repelling Russian invaders. The meeting was organized by GloBee International as a part of the Cities Partnership Project.

The mayor of Kharkiv Igor Terekhov:

The main thing now is to stop the war. The US position is very important here. Closing the skies over Ukraine and over our city is my main message to everyone, because there are now many civilian casualties due to air strikes. Sanctions should also put more pressure on the Russian Federation.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot:

I guarantee you support not only from myself and my office, but also from Chicagoans and businesses. We have a large Ukrainian community, many relatives live in Ukraine, and we can only imagine what you had to go through. We will continue to share with the world information about what is happening to you and how serious it is.

We will continue to send all the aid that we possibly can. We have rallied our business community to help with organizations here in Chicago and the surrounding area to send all of the foodstuffs, humanitarian supplies. And we will continue to do that. We will not stop until this war is over and until Ukraine is able to start to recover.

We will continue to push our country and the European Union to hold Russia and Putin accountable for what they are doing on a daily basis. We will not rest until there is full accountability for Putin and the Russians for what they are doing to destroy your peaceful country”.

Video report of the meeting on CBC News Chicago: Mayor Lightfoot speaks to Kharkiv mayor, assures supplies are on the way.

A text review by Fran Spielman at the Chicago Sun Times: Lightfoot gets first-hand account of horrors of war in Ukraine. The harrowing details came in a video call from Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, who said artillery strikes are “coming from everywhere”.