The Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk met with the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg Fernand Etgen during a working visit to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
She expressed her gratitude to Luxembourg for the humanitarian aid to Ukraine in the amount of EUR 90 million and hospitable reception of more than 5000 internally displaced Ukrainians.
“This small but determined country has become one of the first EU states to respond and provide Ukraine with military support and weapons worth more than EUR 75 million. This is 16 percent of Luxembourg’s defense budget!” – stressed Olena Kondratiuk.
She informed Mr. Fernand Etgen about the situation in Ukraine, numerous war crimes of the russian occupiers against the civilian population, massive terrorist attacks on civilian objects and critical infrastructure, stressing that such actions and crimes should be called by their proper name – terrorism.
On behalf of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Vice-Speaker appealed to the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg with a request to adopt a resolution on the recognition of russia as a terrorist state. Such a decision has already been adopted by the Parliament of another Benelux country – the Netherlands, as well as PACE, NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the Baltic States, the Senate of Poland and the Czech Republic.
“I want to assure you that Luxembourg will support your struggle not only during the war, but also after it. Luxembourg supports the strengthening of sanctions against russia and we will work towards Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” said Fernand Etgen. The parties have also discussed the restoration of justice for the Ukrainian people, the importance of punishment of war criminals in international tribunals and courts, ensuring the payment of compensation for the damages caused to Ukraine.
“We ask Luxembourg to support the initiative of Ukraine and a number of other states and to join the creation of a special International Tribunal for the Crimes of Aggression of Russia,” said Olena Kondratiuk.
She also stressed that Ukraine highly appreciates Luxembourg’s principled support of the historic UN General Assembly resolutions, which do not recognize russia’s attempt to annex Ukrainian territories and approve the mechanism of compensation for the damage caused to Ukraine by russia’s invasion.
“Luxembourg has also blocked russian assets worth 2.5 billion euros. Ukraine is sincerely grateful to Luxembourg for three dozen recently provided 3D scanners that will help to digitize evidence of russian war crimes,” the Vice Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament emphasized.
Fernand Etgen, in his turn, stressed that due to the violation of international law by russia, Luxembourg has ceased any ties with the aggressor country, and the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg also condemned the russian aggression against Ukraine.
“It is important to avoid exhaustion and fatigue from this war. We must work not only to identify war crimes, but also to qualify them. International justice should be a key instrument and engine in the struggle for solidarity and justice,” the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg noted.
He also added that the role of parliamentarians as “guardians of democracy” in the struggle for justice and bringing the truth about the events in Ukraine to the international community is important.
During the meeting, Olena Kondratiuk also invited Luxembourg to join the grain initiative of Ukraine and to take an active part in the projects for the restoration and reconstruction of our country: “Patronage over the Region”, Fast Recovery and Recovery Fund.
“Luxembourg has considerable experience and expertise in engineering and implementation of modern smart city concepts. We want not just to rebuild our cities, but to make them a better and more comfortable place to live than before,” stressed the Vice Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine.
