As they seek refuge in makeshift shelters, search for safety, and flee to exile, the leaders of 40 Ukrainian civil society organisations have come together with six urgent appeals to the international community.
Coordinating via encrypted app’s, and face to face in underground shelters, signatories including Ukrainian Helsinki Group for Human Rights, Come Back Alive, Ukraine Crisis Media Centre and Women’s Perspectives who are calling on the world to act now to stand with Ukraine.
From establishing safe zones to provide sanctuary for civilians, to providing air defence systems and anti-tank weaponry, the Kyiv Declaration sets out six humanitarian and military needs of a country under attack.
Lyubov Maksymovych, Chair of Women’s Perspectives, said: “We are issuing this declaration on behalf of Ukrainian women and men who stand together to fight for their liberty and freedoms. At this moment, it’s not too late to draw a line in the sand, here in Ukraine rather than through the centre of Europe – which is what will happen if we fail. We hope that western powers have learnt from the long failures of appeasement, and the obvious duplicity and inhumanity of Vladimir Putin. This is the most important declaration I have ever signed. If it is not answered, it could also be my last.”
Olga Aivazovska, Chair of Elections Watchdog Opora, said: “Now is the moment the world must demonstrate its support not only for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, but also for the values of democracy, human rights and freedom. With the Kyiv declaration, we ask for your help in defeating an autocratic dictator to defend not only Ukraine but the whole democratic world and the principles it is founded on” Oleksandr Pavlichenko, the Executive Director of Ukrainian Helsinki Group for Human Rights, said: “Vladimir Putin and his henchmen believe they are above the law, that they can get away with this bloodshed because the world needs their gas and oil. We must prove them wrong. We must expose the truth. We must hold them to account in a court of law. Our declaration calls for the documentation and prosecution of their war crimes – the slain civilians, murdered children, the bombing of peaceful cities. Vladimir Putin must answer for his crimes against the Ukrainian people.” Natalia Popovych, Co-Founder and the Chair of the Board at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center: “There is no free and just Europe without a free and just Ukraine. The Ukrainian nation is fighting not only for our homeland, but for a world safe for democracy. But we cannot win if we must stand alone. We urge you to support our declaration.
