On April 13th, members of the Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk, Luhansk Oblasts, and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, national minorities, and interethnic relations with members of the Standing Committee on Human Rights of the Italian House of Representatives met in a video conference. The only issue on the agenda was the acquaintance of Italian parliamentarians with the situation in Ukraine.

       The Head of the Committee on Human Rights of the Italian House of Representatives, Laura Boldrini, said that the Italians were deeply impressed by the events of the crimes committed by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Terrific information about the killing of entire families, torture, rape, looting, and the use of weapons prohibited by international conventions is striking in its planned brutality against civilians. It violates all the precepts of international law. The war crimes committed in Bucha, Kramatorsk, Makarov, and other Ukrainian cities show the true face of Russia's brutal war against Ukraine and its people.

       In turn, the Chairperson of the Committee, Dmytro Lubinets, expressed his sincere gratitude for the support of Ukraine by Italy in the political, economic, and humanitarian spheres and for the initiative to hold such a meeting.

       The Chairman of the Committee drew the attention of Italian deputies to the fact that the war did not begin in 2022 but in 2014 when the Russian Federation illegally seized the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. And eight years later, the active phase of hostilities began.

       Italian colleagues were informed about the horrific crimes committed by the Russian armed forces, in particular about the use of prohibited weapons - cluster munitions, phosphorus bombs and chemical weapons in the city of Mariupol. "The deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure - electrical substations, water filtering stations, gas distribution systems, towers of mobile operators - deprives people of the opportunity to use electricity, gas and water supply, mobile communications, puts them on the brink of survival. During this time, 186 children were killed and 344 children were injured. And these figures, unfortunately, are inaccurate, as it is not possible to obtain information from Volnovakha, Mariupol and other places where active hostilities are currently taking place. Russia is deliberately destroying Ukrainians as a nation. This is a real genocide, "said the Chairman of the Committee.

       Dmytro Lubinets also drew the attention of foreign colleagues to the mass forced deportation of people from the occupied territories to the territory of the Russian Federation, noting that about 620,000 Ukrainian citizens, including 120,000 children, have been deported so far.

       During the meeting, members of the Committee thanked the Italians for their help to the Ukrainian nation and the opportunity to provide information about the Ukraine situation and also asked to close the sky over Ukraine and provide powerful weapons.

       Dmytro Lubinets invited his Italian colleagues to come to Ukraine and see what our beautiful cities have become and talk to people who survived the occupation.

       The Ukrainian side attended the meeting: Chairman of the Committee Dmytro Lubinets, Deputy Chairman of the Committee Nelly Yakovleva, and members of the Committee Mustafa Dzhemilev, Konstantyn Kasai, Oleksiy Kuznetsov, Taras Tarasenko.

       From the Italian side, the meeting was attended by: Chairman of the Committee on Human Rights Laura Boldrini, Deputy Chairman of the Committee Vito Comencini, Secretary of the Committee Erasmo Palazzotto.
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