During his official visit to the French Republic, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk met with the President of the National Assembly of the French Republic Yael Braun-Pivet and the leaders of political groups of the French Parliament.
At the beginning of the meeting, Ruslan Stefanchuk expressed his sincere gratitude to his French colleagues for the sustained open and in-depth dialogue between the parliaments of both countries. He also thanked Yael Braun-Pivet, who, according to him, plays an extremely important role in the diplomacy of the parliamentary dimension and raises it to a high level.
“On behalf of the Ukrainian Parliament, I thank you for this wonderful opportunity to be in the heart of France to talk about Ukraine. I would also like to sincerely thank the entire great French people for the support that Ukraine feels, for their big hearts that they have opened to Ukrainians. We see and appreciate it all,” Ruslan Stefanchuk emphasized in his opening remarks.
During the meeting, the parties discussed a number of issues important for further interparliamentary cooperation and support of Ukraine in its progress towards victory in the unprovoked war.
Ruslan Stefanchuk thanked for the powerful military and technical support already provided to Ukraine. In particular, it is the initiative of France and the promotion of the provision of heavy weapons, like tanks, to Ukraine at the global level. He urged his French colleagues to strengthen Ukraine’s air and missile defense and support the provision of aircraft to us.
In addition, he emphasized the importance of supporting the peace formula proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and invited France to participate in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
The Chairman of the Parliament of Ukraine also reminded that the autumn session of the National Assembly of the French Republic began with a discussion on Ukraine, and then they started working on several important initiatives, including the investigation of russian war crimes in Ukraine and support for Ukraine’s European integration aspirations. Therefore, I once again called on my colleagues from the Lower House of the French Parliament to continue to actively support all these issues.
“Today I have heard once again that France is determined to support Ukraine as long as it is needed. And France will stand side by side with Ukraine until the last russian soldier leaves Ukraine. I am grateful for this determination and this position,” emphasized Ruslan Stefanchuk.
For her part, the President of the National Assembly of the French Republic, Yael Braun-Pivet, assured her Ukrainian counterpart that France has been, is and will be by Ukraine’s side until the war against russia is completely won.
“France supports Ukraine and stands by your side in this terrible unilateral attack by your neighbour. And we are working tirelessly to help your country survive,” said Yael Braun-Pivet and emphasized that the visit of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to France and his planned speech to the National Assembly is “a demonstration of the steadfast and unwavering support provided by France to Ukraine.”
At the end of the meeting, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine presented the President of the National Assembly of the French Republic, Yael Braun-Pivet, with the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, II degree, “for the significant personal contribution to strengthening interstate cooperation, supporting the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine”.
Ruslan Stefanchuk also presented to his French colleagues an English-language edition of Kobzar written by Taras Shevchenko for the Parliamentary Library’s collection.