The Speech of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk on the occasion of the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation
Dear Ukrainians! Brothers and sisters! Dear foreign guests!
One year...
The year of invincibility...
The year of heroism...
The year of the beginning of a full-scale war...
I am mentally returning to that disturbing February dawn. I recall in detail that day last year when we found ourselves in new realities. I am grateful to each of you who was there that day, and who have been working here in the session hall for a year now.
For being with me. For not running away. For not betraying and not hiding.
As our great Taras Shevchenko used to say:
“We did not cheat with you,
We were just leaving; we have no
We had no seeds of untruth behind us”.
But we had no right to act differently when Bucha and Irpin, Borodianka and Gostomel, Mariupol and Azovstal, Dnipro and Kharkiv, Kherson and Mykolaiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia stood in the enemy’s path, bloody but unconquered. And Avdiivka and Mariinka, Lyman and Siversk, Soledar and Bakhmut.
These are the place names of our dignity and pride, each of which is associated with the immortal deeds of their heroic defenders. They are forever engraved in the national memory of the Ukrainian people, which no one will ever be able or dare to erase.
I am proud that, together with the President and the Government, the Verkhovna Rada ensured the smooth functioning of the Ukrainian state and society under martial law.
Since the adoption of the wartime acts on February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian Parliament has maintained its functionality and has been fulfilling its mission entrusted to it by the Ukrainian people and the Constitution with dignity.
Despite the terrible blow taken by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, the police, the Security Service, our glorious border guards, intelligence officers, and representatives of all other services, Ukraine has not lost control of its internal processes.
It has managed to maintain the stability of its financial, banking and tax systems, thus proving that it is a state and not an “accidental formation” as the enemy tried to portray it.
We were not invented by lenin, as some ignorant people try to claim. We are a nation that has more than a thousand years of history of state-building and a spirit of indomitability.
This is the unique foundation that no one has ever been able to destroy and on which our future victory will surely be built.
Despite the threat of rocket attacks, despite the fact that the enemy has already seen the crosses and bell towers of our golden-domed Sophia and Lavra and the dignified look of Volodymyr the Great, we have gathered in this hall to make important decisions for the state and society.
We have been working here every single day of these 365 days, and we will continue to work for the sake of victory!
I would like to personally thank all the employees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine who do their job with diligence and devotion every day. Important work. Invaluable work.
We are especially grateful to the international parliamentary family. Even during the war, almost thirty leaders of foreign national parliaments visited Ukraine. The number of visits to Ukraine by numerous parliamentary delegations was the same. We held almost a hundred international meetings in Kyiv. More than twenty high-ranking representatives of foreign countries delivered speeches from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada.
I will rarely mention numbers today, but rather talk about content and results, because they are the indicators of our work.
We have adopted all the necessary legislative acts directly aimed at countering the armed aggression of the russian federation, and we have given a clear definition of both the aggression and the state that is carrying it out.
We have completely rejected the criminal soviet and russian ideology and propaganda, alien to us totalitarian symbols and symbolism, which were breaking through to us not only in tanks.
Deeply realizing that Ukrainians deserve to be members of a large and united European family with their sweat and blood, we all together achieved the status of a candidate for membership in the European Union. And we will definitely witness the start of the accession negotiations together!
On September 30 last year, when I signed the joint application for Ukraine’s accession to NATO, I was and remain convinced that membership in the Alliance is the highest guarantee of our security, and that we must convince everyone who supports and helps us, as well as those who are still against or hesitate, of this. I know that this is one of the most important tasks, as well as the fact that we are very close to our Euro-Atlantic goal!
Thanks to our joint and painstaking work, Europe and the world have recognized and continue to recognize russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. Our partners and friends have provided and continue to provide a clear definition of russia’s crimes as genocide of the Ukrainian people. They supported the creation of an international tribunal to bring the aggressor to justice for murder, rape, and injury.
Yes, we are not alone!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who is with us in these dark times! We highly appreciate and will never forget the assistance provided to Ukraine by the world!
We are especially grateful to the international parliamentary family. Even during the war, almost thirty leaders of foreign national parliaments visited Ukraine. The number of visits to Ukraine by numerous parliamentary delegations was the same. We held almost a hundred international meetings in Kyiv. More than twenty high-ranking representatives of foreign countries delivered speeches from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada.
With each of them, we spoke about military, financial and humanitarian support for Ukraine, and separately about our fellow citizens who were forced to leave Ukraine under the threat of russian shelling. We know that they will definitely return home to Ukraine.
We have launched the parliamentary dimension of the Crimean Platform initiated by the President of Ukraine.
We will definitely jointly implement President Zelenskyi’s peace formula, which is a common sense formula and therefore favourably perceived by the entire civilized world. Its provisions were supported by an absolute majority of 141 states at yesterday’s meeting of the UN General Assembly.
Our national tragedy, the Holodomor of 1932-1933, is recognized by the world as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. For the chime of the terrible years of soviet terror can be heard today in the bitter cries of those who, 90 years later, lost their loved ones in the flames of this unprovoked, ruthless aggression.
But we will definitely survive and win. We will win this war that has been going on since 2014. We will return all the territories seized by the enemy. We will free every single Ukrainian soldier from russian captivity. We will return every Ukrainian child abducted by russia.
We will rebuild Ukraine, and our renaissance will be the renaissance of Europe and the entire civilized world. I am convinced that the restoration of Ukraine will be a matter of honor for all peoples and countries that share the principles for which Ukrainians are laying down their lives.
After all, today Ukraine is not just a carrier of civilizational values for the world. Ukraine has cleared the rust from these values, becoming a place where they are fought for, where people give their lives for them, where they have real, not theoretical, meaning.
russia, putin and every russian will definitely pay for the war they have unleashed. It will be a high but fair price that will be paid by more than one generation of murderers of our people.
Because this is justice!
Dear colleagues!
Our work would not be possible if it were not for those who are not in this room today, those who are on the front line! And among us there are those who have defended and continue to defend Ukraine with arms in hand!
Therefore, our thoughts are with you today, heroic defenders of Ukraine! Great warriors of a great country!
With our volunteers who do the impossible for our Victory!
With our tireless rescuers who are pulling people out of the rubble!
With power engineers who are healing our cities after the attacks!
With doctors who save the lives of soldiers and residents of peaceful towns and villages!
With teachers who teach children in bomb shelters!
With farmers who feed the country!
With responsible businesses that work and pay taxes honestly!
Our thoughts and deepest gratitude are with everyone who is doing everything possible and impossible to win!
Let us applaud each of them!
Let’s thank every Ukrainian and Ukrainians as an integral part of the unbreakable Ukrainian people!
The people that will certainly win!
And will rebuild!
And will multiply the glory!
Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to Ukraine!