The speech by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk during a meeting with members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords of the UK Parliament
Dear Mr Speaker! Distinguished members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords! Dear friends!
First of all, I would like to thank you, dear Sir Lindsay, for the opportunity to address to this extraordinary gathering of British parliamentarians today.
I am especially pleased to do so together with the Ukrainian delegation of MPs who are present here and represent all factions and groups of our Parliament. This means that the Ukrainian Parliament is united and monolithic in its desire to win this war. I would like to thank each of you, dear British MPs, for being with Ukrainian MPs, for doing everything together to bring our common victory closer.
Dear colleagues! It is very important for me that today there is consolidation between our parliaments – between the Ukrainian Parliament and the Parliament, which is one of the oldest in the world, which has given the world many traditions of parliamentarism. We are united today as never before. I want to thank you for that.
I would also like to thank each and every one of the British people who have opened their homes to more than 160,000 Ukrainian refugees who have found refuge here from this terrible war.
I would especially like to thank you for the fact that among these British families there are many families of British MPs. You are leaders in this area and demonstrate a high level of support for the Ukrainian people.
My distinguished colleagues, I would also like to thank you for the services that the UK has already provided to the Ukrainian people.
You were the first to support Ukraine and provide us with tanks, and you opened a global “tank coalition”. The decision on Challenger 2 paved the way for other countries to provide tanks.
You were the first to train Ukrainian soldiers. You passed on your knowledge, your experience, your skills to them and you can see how well Ukrainian soldiers are using them on the battlefield today.
You are making a huge contribution to our resistance to the enemy on land, in the air and at sea. I think it’s time for the UK to take the lead in the “Air Coalition” and open up the possibility for Ukraine to use medium-range aircraft and missiles. I will be very grateful if your Parliament encourages such a decision to be made with regard to Ukraine. The weapons, defence equipment and support you have provided to Ukraine have already saved thousands of lives of Ukrainian civilians. And I want to thank you for that.
Today, the whole world is proud of the courage of Ukrainians, and I want to thank you for the courage of the British and for the support you have shown. Today is the time for more radical action. Only the modernisation of the Ukrainian army, only the latest munitions, will enable us to turn the tide on the frontline. I would like to ask you to make the necessary decisions that need to be made in the Parliament on military support for Ukraine as soon as possible.
We also need to move towards peace. Today, Ukraine has offered the world a clear and understandable peace formula, authored by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Clear 10 points that will make it possible not just to bring peace, but to bring a just peace on the terms of the country that is a victim in this war. We should never confuse who was the aggressor and who is the victim.
The UK supported the formula, and at the UN General Assembly 141 countries also supported many of the points of this formula. So, I would like to address some of the areas of this initiative.
An important component of the overall strategy to combat russian aggression and restore peace is to deprive the aggressor of the ability to wage war. Sanctions are not a panacea, nor is political or legal pressure against the aggressor. But sanctions and international isolation of russia are reducing the aggressor’s military capabilities and affecting the welfare of our partners’ citizens every day.
We do not want our partners to pay for the consequences of russian aggression. We constantly say that the only one to blame for this aggression and its consequences is the russian federation, putin, and the russian people. And it is they who should receive the cheque for this terrible war.
I also have a few rhetorical questions.
Can representatives of the moscow regime decide today what measures should be taken to maintain and restore international peace? Obviously, no! Can russian or belarusian athletes compete at the Olympic Games? Obviously, no!
Isolating russia from the entire civilised world should also be our common task. We are talking about it and will keep talking about it on all international platforms.
I would like to ask for the support of the United Kingdom so that we can express this at the G7, G20 and other international platforms where Ukraine’s voice should be heard. I am grateful that I, as the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, have the opportunity to convey this directly to you, distinguished members of the Parliament.
We also want to continue to see the UK Parliament as a participant in the parliamentary dimension of the International Crimean Platform. Last year we launched this format and it was successfully held in Zagreb. This year it will be held in the Czech Republic. I have already invited the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, to join this format and I have also invited him to visit Ukraine. It would be a great honour for us.
There is one more important aspect I would like to focus your attention on. These days we will mark the anniversary of the beginning of the liberation of Ukrainian territories. The Kyiv and Chernihiv regions were the first Ukrainian regions which we threw out the occupier from. The liberation was a joyful event for us, but also a terrible revelation.
It was then that we saw the true consequences of russian aggression. The day after the liberation of Irpin, Bucha, and Hostomel, the President, followed by me and a group of MPs, visited these cities and saw with our own eyes what the “russky mir” is and what it brings to Ukraine.
Its only goal is to destroy everything Ukrainian. They are destroying us just because we are Ukrainians. And this idea is historically characteristic of russians. Because 90 years ago, this is what the stalinist regime did to Ukrainians. 90 years ago, Ukraine experienced the most terrible genocide, the Holodomor.
I would like to address you, dear parliamentarians. It would be very valuable for Ukraine if you made a decision to recognise the Holodomor of 1932-33 as genocide of the Ukrainian people. This is historically connected – russia’s hatred of everything Ukrainian, which it showed 90 years ago, and which it shows today. Then the tool was famine, today it is massive war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In addition, we believe that victory on the battlefield is important but not sufficient. For us, winning legal battles is also important. We want to use all international legal mechanisms to ensure that russia suffers a legal defeat and is recognised as a terrorist state, a state that commits terrorism, an aggressor state. And, most importantly, a state that will be held accountable for all the crimes committed in Ukraine.
We welcome the recent decision of the International Criminal Court to arrest President putin and his accomplices. Ukraine demands that all perpetrators of crimes be investigated and brought to justice in both national and international jurisdictions.
I applaud the United Kingdom for not only supporting this initiative, but also for calling on other G7 countries to join the work on the organisation of a special tribunal to investigate the crime of aggression. You will agree that victory without restoring justice and punishing the perpetrators will not be real, and peace will not last.
I would like to summarise and turn your attention to the future. Ukraine will win! The democratic world will win! Justice will be restored!
The world has changed beyond recognition – and we all understand that its future security will depend on our ability to establish new and effective safeguards to improve the security of our citizens. There is no doubt that Ukraine will play a very important and sometimes decisive role.
In a few months, the NATO Summit will take place in Vilnius. This summit could be crucial for Ukraine and the entire Euro-Atlantic community. Let’s be honest: Ukraine is now a de facto part of NATO. Ukraine is performing the functions that NATO is supposed to perform because it is defending NATO countries with its weapons, with its best sons and daughters, putting the highest price on NATO values – the price of their lives and health.
Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance will not only guarantee security for Ukrainian citizens, but will also significantly enhance the Alliance’s ability to respond to new security challenges and threats. Therefore, I urge you to become part of the consensus in support of our application and start planning for Ukraine’s accession to NATO now. A secure, rules-based world is only possible when we stand together!
I believe in the restoration of Ukraine, I believe in overcoming all the consequences and our prosperity. I see that these processes are starting right now. I am grateful to the United Kingdom, and I am convinced of the effectiveness of the upcoming Ukraine Recovery Conference to be held in London in June 2023.
We have a long and wide road ahead of us. And we will overcome it together! We will overcome it with dignity!
Thank you for your attention! Glory to Ukraine!