A viral tweet of a Kalashnikov-wielding Ukrainian politician was enough for Wolf Blitzer to ask her why she posted the picture and message online. Kira Rudik responded this way:

“Because it was super unusual and super crazy for myself to understand and realize that I’m holding a gun, and I’m ready to bear arms and I’m ready to go and shoot the other human beings,” Rudik said. “And the reason for that change was because Russian soldiers are coming to Kyiv and Russian soldiers are trying to take what is actually not theirs. ”

Asked about the resolve of the Ukrainians, and whether or not Putin had underestimated them Rudik said:

"I am absolutely sure. He underestimated the readiness of our army, and he underestimated that on every step of the way of his soldiers, they were given really hard resistance. And people are arming themselves. People are fighting them at every inch of our soil. This is what the citizens have to do, and this is what we do."