The following statement was released by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) on December 3.
On December 9, 2019, the leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia will meet in Paris for the Normandy format summit. As they prepare for the first such meeting since October 2016, the UCCA, the largest representative body of over 1.5 million Americans of Ukrainian descent, stands with the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) in reiterating our position that Russia must be compelled to end its military aggression against Ukraine.
Russia and its proxies continue to wage a bloody war against Ukraine, having illegally occupied Crimea and invaded parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region for over five years. This military invasion, and the subsequent armed occupation of Ukrainian sovereign territory, not only constitutes a daily violation of all international law and standards, but more importantly, has resulted in over 13,000 casualties, over 30,000 wounded and close to 2 million internally displaced.
Following the election of President Zelenskyy, the UCCA stated in an open letter the Ukrainian American community’s longstanding principle regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which includes the lawful return of territories occupied by Russian forces. Following Ukraine’s agreement to abide by the so-called “Steinmeier formula” in October, UCCA President Andriy Futey re-affirmed that “Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, which include Crimea and regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, were, are, and will be integral parts of independent Ukraine.”
Therefore, together with the UWC and our international partners, UCCA calls upon Germany, France, Ukraine and its allies to maintain a clear and unequivocal position [Here the UCCA repeats the five points that appear in the UWC statement above – ed.].
The UCCA reaffirms that Ukraine must never agree to Russian demands regarding Ukrainian elections, and any elections held in Ukraine must stand in accord with the Constitution and laws of Ukraine.