TORONTO – Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij recently completed a working visit to Brussels, Belgium, where he participated in events of the European Parliament and met with high-ranking officials of the European Union with the goal of strengthening support for Ukraine.
On February 27, Mr. Czolij was co-chair and addressed an event titled “Human Costs of Russian aggression in Ukraine” that was organized in the European Parliament (EP) by the chair of the EP Subcommittee on Security and Defense, Anna Fotyga, with the support of the director of the UWC Mission to International Organizations in Brussels, Maryna Iaroshevych.
Speaking at the event were Ukrainian defenders Oleg Kuzminykh, Sergiy Nedashkivskyy and Oleh Fedorchuk, who informed the audience about the Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine.
Also speaking were Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze and Members of European Parliament Ms. Fotyga, Petras Auštrevičius, Mark Demesmaeker and Tunne Kelam.
In his address, Mr. Czolij noted that the Russian Federation has seized 7.2 percent of the territory of eastern Ukraine and via its military actions has contributed to the deaths of 11,000 people, including 2,500 civilians. Its war in Ukraine has also resulted in 23,000 wounded and 1.6 million internally displaced persons. In addition, Russian aggression has negatively impacted the lives of close to 4.4 million Ukrainians of the 6.6 million living in the Donbas.
The UWC president focused attention on the gross violations of the human rights of Ukrainians in the Donbas and Crimea, adding that at the present there are over 100 Ukrainian hostages in the Donbas and over 60 Ukrainian political prisoners in the Russian Federation and Crimea.
Mr. Czolij also highlighted the intensification of Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine and cited specific data from reports by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), specifically: the increase in ceasefire violations from 320,130 in 2016 to 401,336 in 2017; the increase in instances when weapons in violation of Minsk withdrawal lines were observed from 3,099 in 2016 to 4,065 in 2017; the increase in impediments to the free movement of OSCE monitors from 1,950 instances in 2016 to 2,422 in 2017.
He noted that the hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation is also being furthered in the West. Evidence of this is seen in: powerful cyberattacks, including the spreading of the NotPetya virus in Europe, Asia and the Americas costing billions of dollars; meddling in electoral processes, particularly in the U.S. and France; destabilization of processes in neighboring countries; and acts of terrorism and mass disinformation.
Citing the provision of defensive lethal weapons by Canada and the U.S. to Ukraine, Mr. Czolij called upon European Union member states to bolster those endeavors with concrete measures that could effectively contribute to stopping Russia’s hybrid aggression.
Mr. Czolij also participated in a conference titled “Eastern Ukraine: A Forgotten Humanitarian Crisis after Four Years of Conflict,” which was organized by the European Commission and the United Nations in Brussels, as well as an event in support of Ukraine, “Laboratory of Ukraine,” organized by the Office for Ukrainian Research Centers in Brussels.
Over three days, the UWC president had a series of meetings with high-ranking EU officials during which he encouraged the international community to combat the Russian hybrid aggression that grossly violates the international order and poses a threat of international magnitude. Mr. Czolij called for strengthening sanctions against the Russian Federation, including its exclusion from the SWIFT financial network until it fully complies with the Minsk agreements; support for the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping mission to eastern Ukraine and a monitoring, or a remote monitoring, mission to Crimea; adoption of Magnitsky-type legislation to address violations of human rights, including in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine and Crimea; and the introduction of an aid package similar to the Marshall Plan for the economic development and continued reform of Ukraine. The UWC leader urged high-ranking officials to refrain from travelling to World Cup soccer games in the Russian Federation.
He placed particular emphasis on the significant progress of Ukraine in reforming important spheres such as education, health care and rule of law, including reform of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.
At his meeting with Minister of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine Vadym Chernysh, Mr. Czolij discussed further support for Ukraine.
During this official visit to Belgium on February 27-March 1, the UWC president was accompanied by t Ms. Iaroshevych, the director of the UWC Mission to International Organizations in Brussels. The mission’s deputy director, Dmytro Panchuk, also participated in individual events and meetings.