Tag: 2022

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 13 September 2022.

Today in Kyiv, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak and the 12th Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen present the recommendations on security guarantees for Ukraine, developed pursuant to the instructions of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

An expert group working on the development of the recommendations included specialists from all over the democratic world, in particular former prime ministers, ministers, as well as high-ranking officials and scientists.

The recommendations contain a call for the creation of the Kyiv Security Treaty – a joint document on strategic partnership that unites Ukraine and the guarantor states.

The recommendations provide for a multi-level approach to guarantees. A core group of allies would make clear commitments to support Ukraine’s armed forces, while a broader group would provide non-military guarantees built around sanctions mechanisms.

“Today we are presenting the result of the work unprecedented in modern history, just as the act of full-scale aggression by a nuclear power and a member of the UN Security Council against a sovereign European state is unprecedented. With the help of allies, Ukraine is successfully resisting this onslaught. However, it should be noted that decisions often had to be made ad hoc, and the development of mechanisms for this assistance required a lot of time, which is always lacking in war and which is bought with pain, blood and lives,” said Andriy Yermak, speaking at the presentation of recommendations.

The Head of the President’s Office stressed that the Ukrainians foiled the aggressor’s plans and defended their country, and the occupied lands will certainly be returned. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that Ukraine is fully secured in the future.

“We must make sure that the slogan “We can repeat” causes panic attacks and bad memories among Russians, that they answer only “Never again!” to it. For this, we need a military power strong enough to discourage the Russians’ desire for revenge. And capable of causing irreparable damage to the aggressor if this desire turns out to be irresistible. Security guarantees are aimed at helping us create such power,” Andriy Yermak said.

At the same time, he emphasized that the agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine is not a substitute for joining NATO – it is a means of ensuring security until this accession takes place.

Former NATO Secretary General and Prime Minister of Denmark Anders Fogh Rasmussen noted that Ukraine’s victory in this war is an immediate priority.

“Just now Ukrainians are demonstrating on the frontline that, with the necessary resources, they can defeat Russia on the battlefield. Ukrainians demonstrate the will to fight, and the democratic world must continue to provide them with the means to fight. When this war is over, we must ensure that Russia can never invade Ukraine again. The best way to do this is for Ukraine to have a significant military force capable of resisting any future Russian attack,” he emphasized.

As Anders Fogh Rasmussen noted, building and sustaining such a force would require decades of commitment from Ukraine’s allies.

“The adoption of these recommendations will send a powerful signal to Vladimir Putin. This would show that our loyalty to Ukraine will not waver, that his war is futile. It would also send a signal to the Ukrainian people that we will loyally support the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine for as long as it takes. Doing it right means laying a new cornerstone of European security. If this is not done, it will mean an aggravation of the crisis on European soil,” said the former NATO Secretary General.

Key recommendations of the report:

– The strongest security guarantee for Ukraine lies in its capacity to defend itself against an aggressor under the UN Charter’s article 51. To do so, Ukraine needs the resources to maintain a significant defensive force capable of withstanding the Russian Federation’s armed forces and paramilitaries.

– This requires a multi-decade effort of sustained investment in Ukraine’s defence industrial base, scalable weapons transfers and intelligence support from allies, intensive training missions and joint exercises under the European Union and NATO flags.

– The security guarantees should be affirmative and clearly formulated; they lay out a range of commitments made by a group of guarantors, together with Ukraine. They need to be legally and politically binding based on bilateral agreements but brought together under a joint strategic partnership document – called the Kyiv Security Compact.

– The package of guarantees includes preventive measures of a military, financial, infrastructural, technical, and information nature to prevent new aggression, as well as measures to be taken immediately in the event of a new encroachment on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. In addition, the structure of the Kyiv Security Compact includes a full-fledged sanctions package against the aggressor state, and may also include additional components, such as agreements on providing Ukraine with modern air defense/anti-missile systems, regional agreements on security in the Black Sea, and others.

– The Compact will bring a core group of allied countries together with Ukraine. This could include the US, UK, Canada, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, Turkey, and Nordic, Baltic, and Central European countries.

–The security guarantees are not a replacement for Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO. This aspiration is safeguarded in the Ukrainian constitution and is a sovereign decision for Ukraine. Ukraine is also on the path to EU membership. As an EU member, Ukraine will benefit from the EU’s own mutual defence clause. Both NATO and EU membership will bolster Ukraine’s security in the long-term. The guarantees outlined today in no way undermine these aims but will ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself under any circumstance.

The full set of recommendations are available here.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 13 September 2022.

Deputy Head of the Office of the President Andriy Smyrnov and Executive Director of the International Bar Association Mark Ellis discussed the creation of an international tribunal that will investigate the crime of aggression and try the highest political leadership of Russia.

“The scale of war crimes committed by Russians in Ukraine is staggering. Since the beginning of the war, more than 40,000 war crimes have been committed in our country. On the one hand, these are the direct executors – Russian soldiers and officers who raped, killed, tortured and gave criminal orders. But the main culprits are those who committed the “supreme international crime” – aggression and came to Ukraine with the war. This is Vladimir Putin and other top military and political leaders of Russia,” Andriy Smyrnov said at the meeting.

In order to restore justice and punish the perpetrators of this aggression, it is necessary to consolidate the efforts of the entire international legal community. Our goal is a fair trial and legal retribution, emphasized the Deputy Head of the President’s Office.

According to him, right now Ukraine should make it clear to all humanity that no one will avoid responsibility, just as Hitler and the leadership of Nazi Germany did not avoid it in the 1940s.

“In order to achieve legal retribution for the crime of aggression, we are initiating the creation of a special international tribunal, the mandate of which will be limited to proving guilt in committing the crime of aggression by Russia against Ukraine. I urge you to support this initiative. I urge you to use all your significant potential of knowledge and skills so that no culprit avoids punishment. For us to witness a fair trial and legal retribution for the country, the myth of whose power is crumbling before our eyes,” Andriy Smyrnov noted.

For his part, Mark Ellis said that he fully supports the creation of an international tribunal.

“The Russian leadership, in particular Vladimir Putin, disregarded the inviolable principles of international law by starting a war against Ukraine. Vladimir Putin committed the most serious crime – he committed aggression against your country. I believe that the court that will be created should focus on a narrow issue – Russia’s aggression. The International Bar Association and I are ready to support the international tribunal and do everything in our power to ensure that the crime of aggression is punished,” he said.

Executive Director of the International Bar Association Mark Ellis cooperated with the international tribunals on the issues of Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and initiated a program to support judges in Iraq. On his initiative, the eyeWitness to Atrocities mobile application was created, which allows to keep evidence of war crimes.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 12 September 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) António Vitorino.

The Head of State thanked the interlocutor for the visit to Ukraine, particularly to the liberated territories of the Kyiv region. He called on the head of the IOM to convey the truth he saw to the world as much as possible.

“It is very important that the head of the International Organization for Migration saw with his own eyes the consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” the President said.

“You understand in detail all these problems caused by the war. We know and appreciate that the International Organization for Migration supports Ukrainians not with words, but with concrete steps. First of all, forcibly displaced persons both within Ukraine and outside of Ukraine,” added Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The President emphasized the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the full-scale Russian invasion, which caused the largest forced resettlement crisis in the world. He expressed gratitude to the head of the IOM for the practical help from the United Nations to more than a million Ukrainians – both forcibly displaced people outside our country and internally displaced persons.

The illegal mass deportation of Ukrainians to Russia, including women, children and our defenders, and the system of filtration camps arranged by the occupiers, became a separate topic of the negotiations. Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that this is a gross violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime, and called on António Vitorino to exert maximum pressure on Russia in order to put an end to this shameful phenomenon.

“We stand for the International Organization for Migration to have greater access to deported Ukrainians, especially to those territories where there are so-called filtration camps,” he noted.

Specific areas of Ukraine’s further cooperation with the IOM were discussed in detail, in particular, a comprehensive long-term solution to the most urgent problems of forcibly displaced people (housing, guarantees of social protection). The President briefed António Vitorino on the challenges expected with the approach of the heating season, primarily due to the fact that Russia has begun to strike at critical infrastructure facilities.

The Head of State emphasized the importance of the full implementation of the mandate of the IOM in the territories of Ukraine liberated from the occupiers.

The President also emphasized the need to support Ukrainians who return home or move to safer regions of the country during this period, especially in the matter of providing housing. In this regard, he noted that assistance in the form of respective microloans would be useful.