About 2 million Kyiv residents have stayed in the Ukrainian capital, every second has left, mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko has said.

"According to the latest data, every second citizen of Kyiv has left the city. Now a little less than 2 million inhabitants are in Kyiv," Klitschko said on the air of the national marathon of Ukrainian TV channels on Thursday.

According to him, Kyiv has now turned into a fortress.

"Every street, every house… is being fortified, the territorial defense is joining. Even people, who were never going to change their clothes, now are in uniform with machine guns in their hands. These are musicians, and actors, representatives of different professions," Klitschko said.

He stressed that "the city stood and will stand ... And people will not surrender the city, the enemy will not pass!"