Special edition of Kyiv Security Forum starts

Special edition of the Kyiv Security Forum, dedicated to the most pressing issues of peace and security facing Ukraine, Eastern Europe and the Euro-Atlantic area, has started.

In the opening remarks, Forum’s chairman, former Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed that peace and stability in Europe would be possible only after the historic unification of Europe with Ukraine.

"Ukraine needs lasting peace, peace on Ukrainian terms, peace not through capitulation, peace not through enslavement, peace not through reconciliation on Russian terms. Peace [will be] established when Ukraine regains its historically legitimate territories: Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea… There is only one way to achieve lasting peace and stability in Europe today: to expand borders of the European Union and to expand borders of NATO," Yatsenyuk said.

He added that the time had come for the EU and the US to decide on the creation of a high-level group aimed to complete the historic unification of Europe with the participation of Ukraine.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk expressed a hope that such a group would be created after the [local] elections and that lasting and comprehensive peace would be established after the unification of Europe as the borders of the free world would be expanded.

Former Ukraine’s PM also expressed the opinion that the Minsk process had already fulfilled its function - to stop the full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine - so now Ukraine, Germany, France and the United States must force Russia to comply with the Minsk accords in the Ukrainian interpretation.

The event is attended by high-ranking Ukrainian and foreign government officials and diplomats, public figures, international experts. Philosopher Francis Fukuyama and former European Council President Donald Tusk will address the forum participants.

The Kyiv Security Forum was launched by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation in 2007. The forum is an annual event, a high-level discussion on topical issues of national security of Ukraine, the Black Sea region, security issues in Europe and around the world.

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