On 26-27 June 2018, Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij, on the invitation of UWC member organization Lastivka Ukrainian Youth Organization of Denmark (Lastivka), fulfilled a working visit to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discussed important Ukrainian issues with high-ranking officials of Denmark, Ukraine and world countries, representatives of civil society and the local Ukrainian community, and also participated in the Second International Ukraine Reform Conference: A Driver for Change.
During his meetings, the UWC President thanked Denmark for supporting Ukraine in the defence of its territorial integrity, and also recognized its valuable support in the framework of the five-year program of the Eastern Partnership and for furthering reforms in Ukraine. Eugene Czolij highlighted the current brazen hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation, which occupied Crimea, continues its military actions in Eastern Ukraine, grossly violates the human rights of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, and wages a widespread disinformation campaign. The UWC President emphasized the threat of Russian hybrid aggression for the international community, including Denmark, and drew attention to last year’s significant Russian cyberattacks on the Ministry of Defence of Denmark and the Danish shipping company Maersk. In this context, Eugene Czolij discussed the value of cooperation between Ukrainian and Danish programmers to combat Russian cyberattacks. The UWC President called upon Denmark to support conditions that will lead to the deployment of an UN peacekeeping mission to the Donbas and an OSCE monitoring mission to Crimea, and international initiatives to secure the release by the Russian Federation of Ukrainian political prisoners and hostages. Eugene Czolij also called upon Denmark to take appropriate measures to stop the Nord Stream II pipeline project, which threatens European energy security. Separately, he shared information on the latest major reforms in Ukraine, including the adoption of the law on the anti-corruption court. In relation to this, he noted the effort of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark in the joint organization with Ukraine on 27 June 2018 of the Second International Ukraine Reform Conference aimed at familiarizing the international community with Ukraine’s accomplishments in implementing systemic reforms and determining the direction of future cooperation and practical assistance for Ukraine on this path. Eugene Czolij urged Denmark to showcase the successes of 70 Danish companies currently operating in Lviv. Focusing on the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor, the UWC President called for Denmark to recognize the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian nation.
On 27 June 2018, Eugene Czolij participated in the Second International Ukraine Reform Conference: A Driver of Change, attended by high-ranking officials from 40 countries, and representatives of international organizations and civil society. A speaker on one of the panels of the conference was UWC Vice President and Chair of the UWC Committee for the Economic Development of Ukraine Olena Koszarny.
On this day, the UWC President joined the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman in laying flowers at the monument to Taras Shevchenko.
Eugene Czolij learned about the specifics of the Ukrainian community in Denmark during a meeting with President of Lastivka Mariya Padovska and Director of the Lastivka Ukrainian Saturday School in Copenhagen and Representative of Ukrainian Schools in Lastivka Lesya Rykhalska, and a community meeting. These meetings also offered an opportunity for the exchange of ideas on establishing an UWC Ukrainian central representation in Denmark.
The UWC President was accompanied to the various meetings in Denmark by President of Lastivka Mariya Padovska.
“The Ukrainian World Congress will continue to work with the governing authorities of Denmark and the Ukrainian community, including Lastivka Ukrainian Youth Organization of Denmark, in furthering the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
List of individuals with whom the UWC President met:
Balslev Uffe Anderssøn, Head of the Department for European Neighbourhood, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark
Furuya Emi, Ambassador of Canada to Denmark
Groysman Volodymyr, Prime Minister of Ukraine
Høeg-Jensen Kasper, Deputy Permanent Secretary of State for Defence, Security Policy and Operations, Ministry of Defence of Denmark
Hrynevych Lilia, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine
Ivanchuk Andrii, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine and Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy of the Parliament of Ukraine
Klympush-Tsintsadze Ivanna, Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine
Kubiv Stepan, First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Economic Development and Trade
Lütken Jens-Kristian, Vice-Chairman of European Movement of Denmark, Member of the Copenhagen City Council
Salquist Lars, Head of Department for International Operations, Ministry of Defence of Denmark
Waschuk Roman, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Canada in Ukraine
In the photo from left: S. Kubiv, A. Ivanchuk, V. Groysman, E. Czolij and І.Klympush-Tsintsadze
