WE CALL ON CANADIANS TO SUPPORT UKRAINE AND OPPOSE CAPITULATION TO RUSSIA
Roman Medyk and Orest Steciw
October 3, 2019
Ukraine’s struggle against Russian aggression is entering a new dangerous phase. Unable to defeat Ukraine on the battlefield, Russia is escalating its hybrid war against Ukraine by pushing the Euro-Atlantic community toward appeasement. Therefore, the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC) respectfully calls on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Members of Parliament, and our fellow Canadians to oppose capitulation to Russia on Ukraine.
The Ukrainian nation spontaneously mobilized and stopped Russia’s military machine. Initially, they did so as volunteer fighters in volunteer battalions. Today, Ukraine boasts the second-largest military in Europe, second only to Russia itself.
Illegally annexed Crimea and the occupied slivers of Donbas constitute no more than 7% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. However, after more than five and a half years of Russian military aggression, occupation, and illegal annexation, the results are devastating. Over 13,000 Ukrainians dead, tens of thousands wounded, 2 million internal refugees, hundreds of billions of dollars of destruction. Beyond these sobering statistics, Russia continues its hybrid war throughout the country. Russian-sponsored sedition, subversion, terrorist attacks, economic blackmail, information warfare, and fomenting of social unrest and tensions in the region and beyond is part and parcel of Russia’s total war against Ukraine.
Hence, despite years of war and hardship, Ukrainians’ will to resist remains strong. Over 50,000 veterans converged on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, on Ukraine’s Independence Day, August 24, 2019, to take part in the “March of Defenders of Ukraine”, a spontaneous and dignified civic display of Ukrainians’ desire for peace. As the March underscored, Ukrainians want peace, but not at any cost. During the ensuing weeks grassroots civic groups have been mobilizing to form a broad nationwide campaign: Movement Against Capitulation (MAC).
Ukrainian patriots are responding to policies of appeasement by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, who have succumbed to dictator Vladimir Putin’s insidious plan to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence in exchange for “peace.” Putin’s plan is known as the “Steinmeier formula.” The concern is that under intense pressure from Putin and Ukraine’s international partners, Ukraine’s young new President Volodymyr Zelensky will mistake his election victory as a signal that appeasing Putin is Ukraine’s only path to peace.
Under the “Steinmeier formula”, terms to achieve peace and restore Ukrainian control of its internationally recognized border would require Ukraine to allow elections in the Donbas prior to establishing full and unfettered control by Ukraine of the territories under Russian occupation, including the removal of all Russian forces, their surrogates and agents of the occupation regimes known as the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LNR and DNR), as well as identifying, arresting and trying suspected war criminals. Further, Russia seeks to force the Ukrainian government to refrain from recognizing the Russian Federation as the aggressor and occupier of Ukrainian territory with all of the legal consequences attendant to such designation. Instead, Russia maintains that Ukraine must recognize and engage with the LNR and DNR as if they are legitimate governmental entities. What is more, the “Steinmeier formula” envisions changes to the Ukrainian Constitution that would accord special autonomous status for Donbas and also would rescind constitutional provisions concerning Ukraine’s quest to join the EU and NATO. Also, there is no mention in the “formula” of revoking the illegal annexation of Crimea and its return to Ukrainian sovereignty.
In short, Ukrainian patriots recognize, and the League of Ukrainian Canadians shares their conclusion, that Ukraine is being forced to accept not peace but rather capitulation.
Therefore, the LUC supports the just and legitimate demands and terms for peace enumerated in the Ukrainian Victory Formula. According to MAC leaders, the Ukrainian Victory Formula includes the following provisions:
1. Russia launched and continues armed aggression against Ukraine, occupying the Crimean peninsula and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.Ukraine suffers not from an "internal Ukrainian conflict" but Russia's armed aggression and its aftermath.
2. The liberation of occupied segments of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions is inseparable from ending the occupation of Crimea.In Crimea and the Donbas, the aggressor is but one, the nature of aggression is identical, the violations of international law and human rights and freedoms are the same. All territories occupied by Russia must be returned to Ukraine together and simultaneously.
3. The Kremlin must release all Ukrainians who are held illegally in Russia and the territories it occupies.
4. Elections for local municipalities or to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine cannot take place in occupied territories.
5. All Russian occupation forces should unconditionally withdraw from Ukrainian territory.
6. Ukraine should regain full control of the entire internationally recognized Ukrainian-Russian State Border.
7. The Ukrainian territories liberated from Russian occupation cannot have any special status that would call into question the unitary structure of Ukraine.
8. Russia is responsible for aggression against Ukraine and the occupation of Ukrainian territories.
9. Ukraine must demand full reparation for the damage caused by aggression and occupation and the punishment of perpetrators of international criminal offenses.
10. Peace will not come at the cost of Ukraine's commitment to its Euro-Atlantic civilizational choice, including membership in NATO and the European Union.
Russia is exploiting confusion and discontent among Ukraine’s international partners. Ukraine needs Canada to reassert its leadership role on Ukraine among its Euro-Atlantic allies. During the years before the Revolution of Dignity, Prime Minister Stephen Harper demonstrated resolute leadership in standing up for democracy and human rights in Ukraine and opposing Russia’s war against Ukraine. Similarly, the Trudeau government has supported Ukraine, it's military, and civic sectors. Today, as never before, Ukraine needs solidarity with Canada, it's champion in the West.
On this our 70th anniversary, we pledge to continue our legacy begun in 1949 as the Canadian League for the Liberation of Ukraine, and since 1991 the League of Ukrainian Canadians, to foster and promote Canadian values and to share our Ukrainian cultural heritage with our fellow Canadians. We also will work to marshal support for our brethren in our ancestral homeland to build a secure, democratic, and prosperous, sovereign, and indivisible, independent Ukrainian nation-state.
