- Wladimir Klitschko said Russia might still return to try to seize the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
- Klitschko added that the war is not over, but rather, the Russians have "changed the strategy."
- He made the comments alongside his brother, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, to ABC News "This Week".
Russia may return to try again to seize the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Wladimir Klitschko said on Sunday.
The comments from the brother of Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, come after Russian troops withdrew from Kyiv last week after a six-week struggle to claim the capital city. Russian forces initially believed the siege would only last a matter of days.
"We are expecting Russian military forces being back and targeting the capital of Ukraine, city of Kyiv," Wladimir Klitschko told ABC News "This Week" on Sunday. "In the beginning, their plans didn't work because our military was giving great defense and giving great fight."
Wladimir Klitschko, a former Ukrainian boxer, made the comments alongside his brother on Sunday.
"Pulling out of Kyiv doesn't mean that the war is over. They just changed the strategy," Wladimir Klitschko said. "They're in the east and south of the country, extremely active and while we're talking, the fight in the east and the south of the country are still going. And obviously, we are expecting them to be back and again targeting the capital."
—This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 10, 2022
Cities surrounding Kyiv faced a brutal assault from Russian forces. In a recent visit to the town of Bucha, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described a scene of "just death" as the bodies of hundreds of civilians were found following Russia's withdrawal from the area.
"Everybody was shocked," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Sunday. "We was also shocked if we see not just images to be present in these — in town, Borodyanka, Gostomel, Bucha, where killed hundreds of civilians without no reasons — the women, children, old people, teenager. It's genocide of Ukrainian."
Ukraine's military warned in late March that the Russian withdrawal from the northern cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv is likely just a rotation of troops that "aims to mislead" Ukrainian forces.
"According to some indications, the Russian enemy is regrouping units to focus its main efforts on the East," said the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces in a Facebook post on March 29.
On Friday, at least 50 people were killed after two Russian rockets hit a train station in Kramatorsk, a town in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The station was crammed with people who were fleeing their homes, Ukrainian officials said.