The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC), together with its 53-country network, continues to make a difference in how the international community interacts with Ukraine and supports the limitless potential of the Ukrainian people.
The hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation continues with an escalating vengeance claiming casualties on an almost daily basis. As of today, the Russian Federation has seized 7.2 percent of the territory of eastern Ukraine and its military actions have resulted in 11,000 deaths including 2,500 civilians, and 23,000 wounded. Currently in Ukraine, there are 1.6 million internally displaced persons, whereas the Russian Federation’s military invasion of Ukraine has negatively impacted the lives of close to 4.4 million Ukrainians living in the Donbas and resulted in the greatest humanitarian crisis since the end of the second world war. More than 100 Ukrainian hostages in the Donbas and over 60 Ukrainian political prisoners continue to languish in prisons in the Russian Federation and Crimea.
Despite this grim reality, the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement was ratified, Ukrainian citizens now enjoy visa-free travel to EU Schengen states, and sanctions against the Russian Federation remain firmly in place in response to its illegal occupation of Crimea and military invasion of eastern Ukraine.
The United States and Canada have Magnitsky legislation in place which can be used to address human rights violations around the world, including in Crimea. Similar legislation has been adopted by Estonia, Great Britain, Latvia and Lithuania.
The United States and Canada have also authorized the delivery of defensive lethal weapons to Ukraine.
The primary role of the UWC is to help the international community understand the utmost importance of its ongoing support for the Ukrainian people who, in defending the territorial integrity of their state, are also defending the core values and principles of Western civilization. There is no organization that rivals the Ukrainian World Congress in delivering this message.
The world is on our side, but we need to do more. We must raise the level of engagement and support, particularly in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and the human rights violations resulting from the Russian hybrid aggression; secure the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping mission to the Donbas and an OSCE monitoring mission to Crimea; intensify actions countering the blatantly intrusive disinformation campaign affecting many world countries; ensure that sanctions are strengthened; and encourage continuing support for reforms in Ukraine.
In conclusion, I would like to share with you a story that has inspired me to do more. Last summer in Lviv, UWC’s 50th anniversary commemorations included a visit to the Lychakiv Cemetery where we paid tribute to the fallen heroes of Ukraine. Following the memorial service, I approached an elderly blind gentleman standing motionless at a gravesite. The grave was that of his 22-year-old son who had died defending Ukraine’s eastern border. I could not imagine the pain of this broken man standing in front of me whose fate was to survive his young son. I could find no words to ease his pain. All I could do was promise him that the 20-million strong Ukrainian diaspora would do everything to ensure that his son did not die in vain and Ukraine regains its territorial integrity.
The UWC is a non-governmental organization and receives no funding from government sources. The UWC relies solely on the generosity of its donors and member organizations who believe that a world with an independent, democratic, prosperous European Ukraine is a better, safer world; who believe that every Ukrainian, wherever he or she may live, deserves to live in dignity and freedom; who believe that the more than 11,000 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice defending Ukraine in the last four years have not died in vain.
Please show your support of the UWC by making a donation today. We still have a long road ahead of us but your donation will ensure that we not only maintain the course, but accelerate the pace.
Donations can be made:
• online at www.ukrainianworldcongress.org; or
• by check payable to “Ukrainian World Congress” (no tax receipt will be issued) or to “Ukrainian World Foundation” (tax receipts will be issued to Canadian residents). Please mail checks to: Ukrainian World Congress, 145 Evans Ave., Suite 207, Toronto, ON, Canada M8Z 5X8.