On 29 January 2015 Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij held a series of meetings in New York, U.S.A., with representatives of the United Nations (UN) and the permanent missions to the UN from Austria, Canada and Lithuania, during which he raised the threat of the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation to the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and the peace and stability in the world.
The UWC President highlighted that the Russian Federation created an international crisis with its epicentre in Ukraine and is further escalating the situation by continually supplying weapons, hired fighters and its own forces to support the militants of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. He emphasized that in Eastern Ukraine, as a result of relentless terrorist acts by the Russia‑backed militants innocent civilians continue to suffer injury and death, including children, women and the elderly. During only the last two weeks, shelling in Volnovakha, Donetsk and Mariupol killed over 50 Ukrainian civilians and more than a hundred were injured.
Eugene Czolij underscored that, with its actions, the Russian Federation is grossly violating the UN Charter as an aggressor state and its membership on the UN Security Council should be revoked or suspended.
The UWC President called on the UN to support the resolution of the Parliament of Ukraine designating the Russian Federation as an aggressor state and the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics terrorist organizations.
Eugene Czolij also noted the importance for the UN to defend the principle of the territorial integrity of independent countries.
In addition, the UWC President called upon the UN to provide Ukraine humanitarian aid for the affected population and the over one million internally displaced persons, and to help secure the release of prisoners of war and Ukrainian citizens illegally detained on the territory of the Russian Federation, including a member of the permanent Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Nadiya Savchenko.
“At this critical time I call upon the UN to use all available means to urgently stop the aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine and end the threat to international peace and security,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
