• Whereas the European People’s Party strongly condemns the ongoing Russia’s brutal large-scale invasion of Ukraine, which started on February 24, 2022, as well as the war of aggression of Russia against Ukraine since February 20, 2014, which undermines the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as violates the international law and the rules-based international order.

• Whereas Russia continues its attempts to eliminate the Ukrainian statehood, bringing more destruction of civilian and critical infrastructure, committing indiscriminate killings of citizens, rapes and torturing of civilians, war crimes and atrocities. Such acts constitute blatant violations of international law that must not be tolerated and all those responsible must be brought to justice, including by establishing an ad hoc international criminal tribunal.

• Whereas there is a clear understanding that the existing scope and the level of compliance to the restrictive measures of the European Union and the Group of Seven (G7) countries are not yet sufficient to change the aggressive behaviour of the Russian Federation and drain its economic resources to prevent it from waging its war of aggression against Ukraine, occupying part of Georgia’s sovereign territory, maintaining a military presence in Moldova and intimidating other sovereign neighbouring countries.

• Whereas the circumvention of sanctions weakens their impact on the Russian economy and military capabilities and thus undermine the perspectives of a peaceful settlement based on international law and on the international responsibility of the aggressor state.

• Whereas the EPP expresses its admiration and deep appreciation for the resilience, courage, bravery, and sacrifice of the Ukrainian people in the fight for freedom, democracy, independence, sovereignty, as well as its effort to safeguard Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and the right to freely choose its international alliances.

• Whereas the international political, financial, economic, humanitarian, and military support for Ukraine must be secured and strengthened for as long as it takes to win against Russia, to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, to ensure full reconstruction of the war-torn Ukrainian economy.

The European People’s Party:

1. Demands that the Russian Federation revokes all illegal decisions to attempt annexation of the sovereign Ukrainian territories, in particular Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizzhya regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which constitute a clear and blatant violation of the UN Charter and international law;
2. Demands that the Russian Federation immediately and fully withdraws its armed forces and military assets from the sovereign territory of Ukraine, as this is defined by its internationally recognized borders, without any preconditions;

3. Calls for more coordinated international sanctions to be imposed on Russia to deprive this country of its ability to finance its war of aggression against Ukraine, including restrictive measures against Russian nuclear energy stakeholders, LNG, oil and natural gas international trade, exports of diamonds, non-ferrous metals as well as against companies engaged in producing or supplying the weapons, military goods, drones, military satellites.

4. Strongly urges all the responsible nations to stop supporting the Russian Federation in its war of aggression against Ukraine, including by means of military assistance and aid in circumvention of sanctions;

5. Calls on the G7, the European Union, the NATO member states and other nations to strengthen the sanctions compliance regime and introduce restrictive measures against companies responsible for circumvention of sanctions against Russia or for assisting Russia to continue its war of aggression against Ukraine;

6. Calls on Ukraine and the European Union to make all possible efforts to ensure launching pre-accession negotiations as soon as possible following the positive recommendation of the European Commission on November 8, 2023;

7. Calls on NATO to take the opportunity of its upcoming Washington Summit in 2024 to pave the way to Ukraine’s eventual membership in NATO as the only viable and effective long-term security guarantee for Ukraine;

8. Calls on Ukraine to pursue on the path of necessary reforms, in particular by strengthening democratic institutions, rule of law and human rights’ protection, that bolster its democratic resilience and contribute to its successful path towards EU and NATO membership.