Reporter’s Notebook Ukraine parliament member on standing up to Russia with Kalashnikov

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KYIV, Ukraine – In the early days of the Russian invasion, she was a symbol of Ukraine standing up to Moscow. Pictures of member of parliament Kira Rudik learning to use and posing with a Russian-made AK-47 Kalashnikov rifle went viral around the world. The 36 year-old told Fox News she’s still ready.

“I’ve got my Kalashnikov,” she said. “I’m training with it. If something happens I will be able to protect myself.”

While the Russians were repelled from Kyiv some 3 months into the war, in other parts of the country, the fight goes on.

“We are getting to the second stage of the war,” she said. “It could be exhausting and long and that’s what I’m worried about.”

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She said in the town of Bucha, she heard first-hand of sexual assault by Russian soldiers against women. “I can tell you these are very, very complicated and tragic stories.”

And Rudik, a mother herself, knows families and children are disrupted by war, telling us, “We know that this generation is gone, because we have children who know how to behave when they hear air raid sirens.”

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She said she’s also seen the illegal targeting of Ukrainian civilians and residences – war crimes – by the Russian leader.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “is taking Hitler’s ‘book’,” she said, “and he is just going step-by-step.”

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All this makes one-time IT businesswoman Rudik believe if Ukraine has any hope for a future, it must push Russia out now.

We pointed out to her it could come with a very high price. “It will,” she answered and then asked, “But haven’t we paid a high price already?”