a powerful statement by prominent Ukrainian human rights defenders, the "1st December Group". Share widely! #StandWithUkraine. -- Thread below with key messages ukraineworld.org/articles/russi…
Ukraine has been living with war for eight years in Donbas. The war has left scars which are impossible to erase. Ukrainians spent eight years watching the news every day and hearing the dead called by name.
But now this war is everywhere. It is in Sumy, Kherson, Chornobyl, Mariupol, and in Kyiv. It is in Kyiv courtyards, on children’s playgrounds. Orphanages and residential buildings have become targets for the Russian invasion army.
Ukrainians have always been strong and will be strong. Our people have survived the fiercest challenges, and we are a nation that is used to surmounting difficulties.
It has developed and thrived despite all the tragedies it suffered in the 20th century: destruction by an artificial famine (Holodomor), millions exterminated, the intelligentsia executed, the destruction of our language and culture.
These crimes were committed by authoritarian Russia, under different masks and in different forms, with its “partners” and collaborators. Therefore, Russia’s war against Ukraine today is not new for us.
We stood firm at that time and we will stand firm now. We have survived despite all these tragic events, and we will be victorious today.
But we need help. Putin is repeating what Europe last saw in 1939. Today Ukraine is defending itself. It is defending the values of human rights and fundamental freedoms, of democracy and resistance against tyranny.
There are many things which the world can do now. First, it needs to impose harsher sanctions against Russia, and significantly hit the Russian energy, banking, and defense sectors.
It must impose a trade embargo on Russia and cut Russia off from the SWIFT international payment system, as well as substantially limit its capacity to sell its gas and oil to fill its military budgets.
Secondly, Russia must be cut off from all international fora.
Thirdly, Ukraine needs military support: air defense systems and protection against Russian missiles and bombings. The world must ensure a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Russia believes that it is waging the war against the U.S. and NATO in Ukraine, and NATO must therefore respond
Fourth, Ukraine needs economic support, as the country is suffering catastrophic economic loss. Our country must emerge stronger from this war.
We must stop Putin immediately! We must stop the war immediately! We must annihilate the criminal Putin regime - this new and uglier version of totalitarian horror. Like gangrene, it threatens to spread to the body of the whole world.
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