On 6-9 June 2018, President of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) Eugene Czolij fulfilled a visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, during which he held a number of official meetings with the Hierarchs of Ukrainian Churches, the President, the Speaker of the Parliament, the Prime Minister and other high-ranking officials of Ukraine, representatives of the international community and civil society.
In the course of the meetings, the UWC President raised a number of important issues, including the prospective issuance by the Ecumenical Patriarch of a Tomos of Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine; actions by the international community in response to the hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation and further steps to protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine; the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission to the Donbas and an OSCE monitoring mission to temporarily occupied Crimea; the extension of sanctions against the Russian Federation; the North Stream 2 pipeline project; the condition of Ukrainian hostages in the Donbas, and political prisoners in Crimea and the Russian Federation, specifically the hunger strike by Oleh Sentsov and Volodymyr Balukh; reforms in Ukraine; the Law “On the Establishment of a High Anti-Corruption Court”; G7 Summit in Canada; the European integration and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine; a boycott of FIFA World Cup 2018 in the Russian Federation; and the legal and practical aspects of the restitution for damages inflicted by the Russian Federation as a result of its illegal occupation of Crimea and ongoing armed aggression in the Donbas.
Eugene Czolij assured all parties that the UWC has consistently raised these issues in meetings with high-ranking officials of various countries. He also presented the international events, conferences and other events held by the UWC and the Ukrainian diaspora with the goal of advancing Ukraine’s interests in the international arena.
On 7 June 2018, the UWC President participated in the panel discussion “The price of Kremlin aggression in Ukraine: the material dimension”, held at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center. During his speech, Eugene Czolij analyzed the legal avenues and mechanisms for recovering compensation from the Russian Federation for damages inflicted as the result of the illegal occupation of Crimea and the continuing armed aggression in Eastern Ukraine.
On 9 June 2018, the UWC President also delivered a thematic presentation during the Special expert discussion on Building a Regional Resilience to Disinformation held during the Second Inter‑Parliamentary Conference “Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine: Strengthening the Interparliamentary Component of Regional and Security Cooperation, while Developing Interaction with the EU and NATO”. In his speech, Eugene Czolij emphasized the magnitude and destructive influence of Russian disinformation in different countries around the world, and called for a strategic and comprehensive response to counter it effectively.
To the meetings and events, the UWC President was accompanied by Director of the UWC Mission to Ukraine Serhiy Kasyanchuk and Director of the UWC Mission to International Organizations in Brussels Maryna Iaroshevych.The UWC President was аlso accompanied to some meetings by Chair of the UWC International Educational Coordinating Council Oksana Wynnyckyj-Yusypovych and Deputy Director of the UWC Mission to Ukraine Volodymyr Kistianyk.
“The coordination of efforts among the 20-million strong Ukrainian diaspora led by the UWC, and Ukraine’s governing authorities and civil society is key to effectively countering the hybrid threat of the Russian Federation and realizing the European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations of Ukraine,” said UWC President Eugene Czolij.
More details on the UWC President’s meetings in Ukraine can be found at the links below:
Patriarch Filaret met with UWC President Eugene Czolij https://www.kyrios.org.ua/news/uoc-kp/35905-patriarkh-filaret-zustrivsya-z-prezidentom-sku-evgenom-choliem.html
President of Ukraine met with President of the Ukrainian World Congress http://www.president.gov.ua/news/prezident-ukrayini-proviv-zustrich-z-prezidentom-svitovogo-k-48090
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman met with President of the Ukrainian World Congress Eugene Czolij https://www.kmu.gov.ua/ua/mediagallery/premyer-ministr-ukrayini-volodimir-grojsman-zustrivsya-z-prezidentom-svitovogo-kongresu-ukrayinciv-evgenom-choliyem
O. Turchynov: It is only possible to counteract Russia’s disinformation with truth, and here the diaspora’s assistance is vital http://www.rnbo.gov.ua/en/news/3041.html
“We will appeal to the ECHR so that Russia will compensate our citizens damage due to the destroyed property in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine,” says Lyudmyla Denisova
Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine will cooperate with the Ukrainian World Congress in the development of educational materials for Ukrainian schools abroad https://mon.gov.ua/ua/news/mon-spivpracyuvatime-zi-svitovim-kongresom-ukrayinciv-u-rozrobci-navchalnih-materialiv-dlya-ukrayinskih-shkil-za-kordonom
Sila Prava [Ukrainian Civic Movement] can count on support from the Ukrainian World Congress http://sila-prava.org/uk/news-uk/39994041/
Panel discussion “The price of the Kremlin aggression in Ukraine: the material dimension” http://uacrisis.org/67317-report-atlantic-council
List of individuals with whom the UWC President met:
Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zoria), Archbishop of Chernihiv and Nizhyn, Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate
Denisova Lyudmyla, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Parliament of Ukraine (Ombudsman of Ukraine)
Enberg Martin, Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in charge of the coordination of co-operation programs in Ukraine
Groysman Volodymyr, Prime Minister of Ukraine
Hopko Hanna, Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Ukraine
Hrynevych Lilia, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine
Kholodnytsky Nazar, Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine (SAPU)
Klimkin Pavlo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (via telephone)
Kniazhytskyi Mykola, Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Spirituality of the Parliament of Ukraine, Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Association Committee EU-Ukraine
Kubiv Stepan, First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Economic Development
Kurkchi Yusuf, First Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine
Lutsenko Yuriy, Prosecutor General of Ukraine
Mingarelli Hugues, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine
Morar Filon, Chief of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs in Ukraine
Parubiy Andriy, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
Patriarch Filaret, Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kyiv Patriarchate
Petukhov Serhiy, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine on European Integration
Poroshenko Petro, President of Ukraine
Senchenko Andriy, Head of the Ukrainian Civic Movement “Sila Prava”
Suprun Ulana, Acting Minister of Health of Ukraine
Turchynov Oleksandr, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine
Prokopenko Olena, Head of International Relations at Reanimation Package of Reforms (RPR)
Viatrovych Volodymyr, Director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance
Vinnikov Alexander, Head of the Representation of NATO in Ukraine, Director of the NATO Liaison Office
Waschuk Roman, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine
Yelisieiev Kostyantyn, Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of Ukraine
Yovanovitch Marie, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the United States of America to Ukraine
Zhovkva Ihor, Chief of the Head Department for Foreign Policy and European Integration of the Presidential Administration
In the photo from left: S. Kasyanchuk, E. Czolij, M. Iaroshevych, K. Yelisieiev, P. PoroshenkoandI. Zhovkva
