Tomás Ó Flatharta

Link :
Global Call – Ukraine Must receive all it needs to win a just peace

To: The European Commission, the governments of European Union Member States and the United Kingdom

After US president Trump’s “summits” with Putin (August 15) and European leaders (August 18) Ukraine confronts the appalling prospect of an unjust “peace” settlement that rewards the Russian aggressor. 

If forced on Ukraine, it will legitimise:

• The violent Russian occupation of a fifth of Ukrainian territory and the swap to Russia of territory and people presently under Ukrainian administration
• The destruction of Ukraine’s towns, schools, hospitals, infrastructure, environment and heritage
• The murder of tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens and the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children, and
• The genocidal Russification of the occupied territories, and a host of other war crimes. 

It will also place the burden of ending the war not on aggressor Russia but on Ukraine, its victim–even as the Putin regime steps up its bombardments of Ukraine’s cities and infrastructure.

We, the undersigned, therefore called on the European Union, the governments of its member states and of the United Kingdom to give full, unconditional support to Ukraine by immediately:

• Implementing full and rapid arming of Ukraine, in part sourced from a ban on arming aggressor states like Israel and Saudi Arabia.
• Helping Ukraine develop its own defence industry and find reliable non-US suppliers of equipment it still cannot manufacture.
• Cancelling (and not just suspending repayment of) the Ukrainian state’s foreign debts
• Transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.
• Tightening sanctions on Putin’s regime and its supporting oligarchs, especially in banking and real estate.
• Shortening the European Union’s timetable for eliminating its dependence on Russian fossil fuels exports and imposing severe sanctions on firms that participate in this trade.
• Strengthening the European and global efforts for the safe return of all the kidnapped Ukrainian children, for the liberation and safe return of all Ukrainian civilian prisoners and the exchange of Prisoners of War
• Rigorously prosecuting Russian war crimes.
• Supporting Russian anti-war movements and anti-war activists imprisoned in the Russian Federation and the occupied territories.

Petition initiated by the European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine (ENSU).
For ENSU’s full position on “peace” negotiations see this statement.
For a full statement of the ENSU position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how to counter it see the Brussels Declaration.

Message from activists of the Ukrainian organisation Sotsialnyi Rukh (Social Movement) to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla

‘We write from Ukraine with respect for your courage and in solidarity with the people of Palestine. Having lived through invasion, occupation, forced displacement, and separation from our loved ones, many of us know too well what these mean.

‘We also remember the history that has led to this day: the dispossession of the Nakba, the continuing violence and land-grabbing by settlers, the persistent denial of the right to return, and the suffocating blockade that has turned Gaza into an open-air prison. We see how civilians, women and children are disproportionately targeted, trapped on a narrow strip of land where famine has been manufactured and where homes, schools, and hospitals have become ruins. The paralysis of the so-called international community, unable or unwilling to intervene and put a stop to this madness, feels painfully familiar to us.

‘We commend the dedication of the Freedom Flotilla, and we believe that solidarity, even when symbolic, can break the spell of inevitability. We add our voices to demands for a permanent ceasefire and an end to apartheid-like structures, for a future based on dignity, equality, and respect.

‘May the path you embark on today become a safe passage for aid, and tomorrow, a corridor for freedom!’