The delegation of the Estonian-Ukrainian parliamentary group returned yesterday from a visit to Ukraine, during which they met with Ukrainian officials, celebrated Holodomor Memorial Day and prepared a joint statement in support of Ukraine.
According to Mati Raidma, chairman of the Estonian-Ukrainian parliamentary group, during the meetings held as part of the visit, both in Zhytomyr and in Kyiv, it was further confirmed that in today's struggle of Ukraine for its independence and territorial integrity, all help, every support is essential. "Estonia is doing its best. Thanks to state structures, entrepreneurs and especially our brave volunteers. We stand by the Ukrainians. Victory over the Russian aggressor is the only possible solution," said Raidma.
Member of the parliamentary group Erki Savisaar said that Ukraine needs ammunition and weapons to free its territory from foreign forces. "The faster the necessary equipment reaches the front, the less civilians and Ukrainian soldiers will die. The desire of the Ukrainian people to join the European legal space and the European Union is high, and we must do everything to help them in this process," said Savisaar.
The members of the parliamentary group condemned the idea of concluding a peace agreement in a joint statement prepared as a result of the visit. "The aggressor cannot win this war either on the battlefield or diplomatically by concluding a favorable peace treaty. Such a peace would not only be immoral, but also short-sighted," the members of the parliamentary group wrote. "We demand the monitoring of all human rights in the temporarily occupied territories, an immediate end to extrajudicial imprisonment, hostage-taking, torture and killing of civilians. Separately, we demand an end to the repression against all national minorities, including Crimean Tatars, and the immediate release of political prisoners."
The members of the Riigikogu The unicameral parliament of Estonia. also urged the representatives of the parliaments of all the countries of the world to go to Ukraine. "Everyone has a duty to see with their own eyes the crimes of war and aggression that Russia has already committed in Ukraine and that it will continue to commit. It is our duty to support the people of Ukraine and to inform our home countries about what is happening," they stressed.
As part of the visit that started on Friday, the delegation met with the Ukrainian-Estonian parliamentary group and the first deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kornienko, as well as the heads of the European Union affairs and international cooperation, environment, economy, national defense and foreign affairs committees, and representatives of the Crimea platform. The delegation visited Zõtomõr, the town of Malõn and Borodjanka and placed flowers on the Holodomor memorial (in photo).