Mariia Mezentseva-Fedorenko: Ukraine remains in focus during PACE autumn session
01 October 2025, 12:51
The autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has begun in Strasbourg, and every day of its work is filled with Ukrainian issues. PACE remains an important platform for supporting Ukraine and condemning russia's actions as an aggressor.
This was stated by Mariia Mezentseva-Fedorenko, Member of Parliament, Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Ukraine's Integration with the EU, and Head of the Ukrainian Delegation to PACE.
The autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has just begun. However, a historic event for our country has already taken place here – Ukrainian soldier, human rights activist and journalist Maksym Butkevych, who was held captive in russia, spoke at the meeting and called on the world not to remain silent and on the Assembly itself to take action. Let me remind you that this is an important platform for us. A special topic has already been initiated by five heads of political groups, meaning that on Thursday we will vote on a resolution entitled ‘Threats from russia.’ Here we will talk about the military element, about the russian federation's hybrid wars," the politician noted.
In her opinion, the russian federation is currently ‘testing’ Article 5 of NATO with its actions and, in general, testing the patience of European governments and armies.
"We see that Poland, the Baltic states, Sweden and Finland are preparing. They are conducting joint exercises with Ukrainian military personnel," the MP emphasised.
She added that as a member of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, she had the opportunity to defend Ukraine's position on the rights of national minorities with her colleagues in the PACE.
"Hungary is using this issue to block our progress towards EU membership. I believe that our colleagues who will be speaking will adequately represent the position of the Ukrainian state. The issue of enslaved indigenous peoples of the russian federation will also be discussed on the sidelines of the PACE. Their rights were enshrined back in the 1960s at the UN General Assembly, and this needs to be discussed. It is important that the Assembly has already supported three resolutions stating that the russian federation must abandon its imperial ambitions if it wants to be perceived as a safe country," the parliamentarian stressed.