(Far right) Nicolas Zharov, President of LUkraine asbl;
Credit: LUkraine asbl
On the afternoon of Friday 25 February 2022, LUkraine asbl, a non-profit organisation representing the Ukrainian community in Luxembourg, held a press conference on the subject of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On this occasion, Nicolas Zharov, President of LUkraine asbl, read out an open letter to the Luxembourg Government. He stated: "[O]n Thursday 24 February 2022, Europe experienced the day it will remember for a very long time. On this day, one country decided to change its borders and violate the sovereignty of another country with a brutal military attack - and all this in the middle of Europe. [...] An unmotivated and monstrous attack that transgresses all existing rules of international law".
"The Ukrainian army is currently defending its territory, thereby also protecting the rest of Europe from the Russian invasion. Like Luxembourg in 1940, Ukraine is currently under attack by a malicious and heavily armed neighbour. Like the people of Luxembourg at the time, the Ukrainians are defending their autonomy", Mr Zharov continued, adding that Luxembourg's national motto "Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn" (in English: we want to stay what we are) "also reflects the will and aspirations of the Ukrainians today".
Despite expressing his appreciation for the Luxembourg Government's "condemnation of Russia's violence and [its] support [...] in imposing the European sanctions against Russia", Mr Zharov called for "additional sanctions". On the behalf of the Ukrainian community in Luxembourg, he proposed the following measures: the expulsion of all Russian diplomats from Luxembourg; freezing Russian funds and assets on Luxembourg accounts; stopping all intergovernmental exchange with Russia; supporting the exclusion of Russian banks from the SWIFT system.
Moreover, the LUkraine asbl president requested humanitarian aid from the Luxembourg Government, namely by establishing a solidarity fund for Ukraine, sending medicine and other essential products to save the lives of both civilians and Ukrainian soldiers and fostering the reception of war refugees in Luxembourg, primarily women and children.
LUkraine asbl has already launched an initiative to find short-term host families in the Grand Duchy - an initative which it hopes the Luxembourg Government will support.
