The Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk met with the delegation of the Warsaw Security Forum, one of the most authoritative European platforms for discussing security issues in Central and Eastern Europe.
The meeting was attended, in particular, by members of the delegation Katarzyna Pisarska, the Chairperson of the Warsaw Security Forum Conference, Mark Carleton-Smith, the Chief of the General Staff of the British Armed Forces (2018-2022), Andrzej Falkowski, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces (2011-2013). As well as Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius (2012-2020) and Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz (2018-2020), who, while in office, tirelessly warned the world about putin’s criminal ambitions for Ukraine.
Olena Kondratiuk reminded the audience that the meeting was taking place on the eve of the landmark NATO summit in Vilnius. And right now, according to her, every effort of political and parliamentary diplomacy, NGOs, and the voice of our friends, partners and allies in the Alliance countries that can influence decisions is very valuable and important.
“We are well aware of Mr Linas’s prophetic phrase that russians are the world’s best ‘peacekeepers’ – peacekeepers in the sense that they take pieces of other countries’ territories.
Unfortunately, the world did not hear Ukraine and the warnings of our colleagues. As a result, we have been living through a year and a half of the most destructive war in Europe and the largest humanitarian catastrophe since World War II, unleashed by russia,” the Vice Speaker said during the conversation.
She called on the participants of the meeting to use all their experience, knowledge and connections to advocate for Ukraine’s membership in NATO. She called for particularly intensive advocacy in the days leading up to the summit.
Olena Kondratiuk also provided her foreign colleagues with the latest figures from opinion polls on support for NATO in Ukraine, which show that over 82% of Ukrainian citizens support NATO membership, which is an unprecedented public consensus.
As for foreign citizens, among those who have made up
their minds, 70% of Americans, 50% of the Dutch, 53% of Italians, 56% of
French, and 50% of Germans support Ukraine's political invitation to join NATO
in Vilnius.
The Vice-Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament also said that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi is making key foreign visits ahead of the summit, where he is persuading NATO leaders and parliaments to provide us with a clear path to membership. He will also have an important visit to Turkey, a country with one of NATO’s largest armies.
“This summit should be a turning point for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe. If Ukraine does not receive a clear political signal and an invitation to join NATO, it will give russia the feeling that it has a veto over Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic future. And this will only encourage putin to continue his destructive, terrorist war, which poses a threat to the security of the entire continent and the world,” said Olena Kondratiuk.
At the same time, she is convinced that before Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, the member states should provide Ukraine with security guarantees and all possible military assistance, including aircraft and ammunition, to end the war with russia as soon as possible with a victory for Ukraine.
“This is also a matter of moral obligation for Allies. We, as a nation fighting for security and peace on the continent for all, can no longer live with the expectation of an open door to NATO, which, like in the subway, opens and closes. We need a clear and accelerated path to NATO membership, without the MAP,” said the Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
The participants of the meeting agreed that there is no other alternative than Ukraine’s membership in NATO, which is the best and most effective guarantee of security for Ukraine, peace and stability in Europe.
The meeting was also attended by Oleksandr Merezhko, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, and advisers to the Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Mischenko, Pavlo Bulgak, Kateryna Shydenko and Kateryna Lebedieva.