UWC on ‘Normandy summit’: Russia must be held accountable

"As the leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia prepare to meet on December 9, 2019, in Paris for their Normandy Format talks, the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) reiterates its position that Russia must be compelled to end its military aggression against Ukraine," the statement reads.

For more than five years, Russia and its proxies have been waging a bloody war against Ukraine, having invaded and occupied parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, after annexing Crimea in 2014. Russia’s war in Ukraine has resulted in over 13,000 deaths, 30,000 wounded and 1.5 million internally displaced people, and it continues to this day.

The UWC calls upon Germany, France, Ukraine and its allies to maintain a clear and unequivocal position that:

1) No elections can take place in the Russian-occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts until all Russian troops and weapons are withdrawn from Ukrainian territory.

2) Ukraine’s strategic course for Euro-Atlantic and NATO integration, as set out in Ukraine’s Constitution, is non-negotiable and immutable.

3) International sanctions on Russia must continue to be strengthened and expanded until Russia de-occupies the sovereign Ukrainian territory of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

4) There can be no negotiations with the leaders of the Russia-controlled terrorist organizations of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR). 

5) Russia bears full responsibility for rebuilding war-torn Ukraine and paying reparations to all affected by their war against Ukraine and downing of Malaysian airliner MH17.

Any concessions on these “red lines” will seriously impair the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state, security in Europe and cause civil strife within the country – which is exactly Russia’s intent. A “peace at all cost” formula will legitimize the foreign occupying forces in Ukraine, create lasting divisions in the country, and divert Ukraine from its path to Euro-Atlantic integration.

A Normandy Four summit is to take place in Paris on December 9. The meeting will be attended by the leaders of four countries: Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany. It will be the first meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.

A key issue on the agenda is resolving the conflict in Donbas.

The last such meeting at the level of the leaders of the states took place in Berlin on October 19, 2016. Its participants acknowledged that there was no breakthrough in the settlement of the conflict in Donbas.

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