By KYIV. Nov 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The expansion of the European Union at the expense of Ukraine will be Russia’s answer that Europe will pass the test with dignity and become stronger, believes Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk.
“Further expansion of the European Union, primarily at the expense of Ukraine, will be a decisive answer to Moscow that Europe will pass the current ordeal with dignity and will only become stronger,” Stefanchuk said at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees of the House of Representatives of the Belgian Parliament.
According to the press service of the Verkhovna Rada, Stefanchuk emphasized that Ukraine deserves to be part of the North Atlantic Alliance.
“Ukraine has been proving for 644 days of war that it is worthy of being a NATO member state. And Russia has no veto power. Ukraine in NATO is a great contribution to the security and defense of all countries that are members of the most powerful defense association in the world,” said the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament.
Stefanchuk also raised the topic of Russia’s deportation of Ukrainian children. “In addition to shelling, Russia is commiting other crimes in the spirit of the Soviet Union: it is commiting the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to its territory,” Stefanchuk said, adding that the abduction of children is one of the components of the crime of genocide of the Ukrainian people committed by Russia.
The head of the Verkhovna Rada appealed to Belgian parliamentarians to help Ukraine and return the children home as soon as possible. “After all, every additional day that our children are forced to stay on the territory of the aggressor state complicates the search and the possibility of returning to Ukraine,” Stefanchuk emphasized.
As reported, Stefanchuk is paying a working visit to Belgium on November 27-30.
