Estonia-Ukraine parlt group signs joint statement on visit to Ukraine

  • 2022-11-30
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN - Members of the Estonia-Ukraine parliamentary group are returning on Wednesday from a visit to Ukraine during which they signed a joint statement in support of Ukraine condemning any peace that would be favorable to Russia.

"The aggressor cannot win this war in the battlefield or through diplomatic means by signing a peace agreement that is favorable to it. Not only would such peace be immoral, it would also be short-sighted," the members of the parliamentary group wrote.

"We demand that all human rights be followed in the occupied areas and that extrajudicial imprisonment, hostage-taking, torture and killing of civilians end immediately. We also separately demand that repressions against ethnic minorities, including Crimean Tatars, be stopped and that political prisoners be released immediately," they said.

The Estonian MPs also called on all states' parliaments to have their representatives visit Ukraine.

"Everyone has the obligation to see with their own eyes the crimes of war and aggression Russia has committed and continues committing. It is our duty to support the Ukrainian people and inform our home countries about what is happening," they added.

Chairman of the Estonia-Ukraine parliamentary group Mati Raidma said that the meetings held in Zhytomyr and Kyiv as part of the visit further confirmed that all help and support is crucial in Ukraine's fight for its independence and territorial integrity.

"Estonia is doing everything it can and we want to thank our state structures, entrepreneurs and particularly our brave volunteers. We stand with the Ukrainians and that is known. Victory over the Russian aggressor is the only possible outcome," Raidma said.

Member of the parliamentary group Erki Savisaar said that Ukraine needs ammunition and weapons to liberate its territory from the foreign military.

"The faster the necessary equipment reaches the front line, the fewer civilians and Ukrainian troops will be killed," he said, adding that there is great desire among the Ukrainian people to join the European legal space and the EU, and that everything must be done to help them in this process.

As part of the visit that began on Friday last week, the delegation met with the Ukraine-Estonia parliamentary group and First Deputy Chief of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Kornienko as well as chairs of the committees on EU affairs and international cooperation, environment, economic affairs, national defense and foreign affairs, and representatives of the Crimea Platform. The delegation visited Zhytomyr, the city of Malyn and Borodyanka and laid flowers at the Holodomor Memorial.

The delegation of the Estonia-Ukraine parliamentary group visiting Ukraine consists of group chairman Mati Raidma, deputy chair Tarmo Kruusimae and members Aivar Soerd, Erki Savisaar, Juri Jaanson, Riho Breivel, Anti Poolamets, Andres Sutt and Mihhail Lotman.