The second day of the meeting of heads of foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine 2024 took place in Kyiv
On 20 August, the second day of the annual meeting of heads of Ukraine's foreign diplomatic missions ‘Wartime Diplomacy: Resilience, Weapons, Victory’ took place.
The main topics of discussion were parliamentary diplomacy, bringing Russia to international accountability, restoring justice, protecting human rights, returning Ukrainian children deported by Russia, releasing prisoners of war and political prisoners, and strengthening the capabilities of Ukraine's security and defence sector.
Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, opened the second day of the Ambassadors' Meeting with an introduction by Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. He expressed his gratitude to the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament for his effective contribution to the achievement of Ukraine's foreign policy goals.
Addressing the diplomats, Ruslan Stefanchuk noted the significant intensification of Ukraine's interparliamentary cooperation with other countries and stressed the importance of its further expansion, in focusing on the countries of the Global South and the development of promising formats of regional cooperation.
He underlined the special role of parliamentary diplomacy in consolidating international support for Ukraine, increasing sanctions pressure on the aggressor state and implementing the Peace Formula.
Ruslan Stefanchuk also stressed the important role of the Ukrainian Parliament in the process of Ukraine's membership in the EU and NATO.
In the presence of First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Kornienko and Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykola Tochytskyi, a detailed exchange of views on concrete steps to deepen interparliamentary contacts with the countries of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean took place.
The issues of bringing Russia and its military and political leadership accountable under international law, restoring justice and compensating Ukraine for the damage caused were discussed in a separate meeting with the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, and the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Iryna Mudra.
The issues of protecting the rights of Ukrainian citizens both at home and abroad were highlighted in a speech by Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.
Daria Gerasymchuk, Advisor to the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights and Child Rehabilitation, and Dmytro Usov, Secretary of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, discussed with the diplomatic corps the optimisation of work on the protection of the rights and return of Ukrainian children, the release of prisoners of war and civilian hostages.
The meeting also included a separate session with the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, devoted to a substantive discussion of the current needs of Ukraine's security and defence sector.
In addition, representatives of the Ukrainian diplomatic corps exchanged views with the heads of Ukraine's intelligence services: the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Oleh Ivashchenko; the Head of the Defence Intelligence Service of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov; and the First Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Head of the Anti-Terrorist Centre of the SSU, Serhiy Andrushchenko.