On continued financial and military support to Ukraine by EU Member States

B100029/2024

European Parliament resolution on continued financial and military support to Ukraine by EU Member States

(2024/2799(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Charter of the United Nations, in particular to the obligation of all states under Article 2 of the Charter to refrain, in their international relations, from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the UN, and to settle their international disputes by peaceful means,

− having regard to UN General Assembly Resolution 2625 (XXV) of 24 October 1970, in particular to the principles contained therein that the territory of a state may not be the object of acquisition by another state resulting from the threat or use of force, and that any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and territorial integrity of a state or country or at its political independence is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter,

− having regard to UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, which defines aggression as the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the UN Charter,

− having regard to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocol I thereto of 1977,

− having regard to the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe and the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances,

− having regard to the reports of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Ukraine,

− having regard to the regular reports of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),

− having regard to the UN General Assembly resolutions adopted since the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine,

− having regard to the application for EU membership submitted by Ukraine on 28 February 2022, the Commission communication of 17 June 2022 entitled ‘Commission Opinion on Ukraine’s application for membership of the European Union’ (COM(2022)0407) and the subsequent European Council conclusions of 23 and 24 June 2022,

− having regard to the European Court of Auditors’ Special Report 23/2021 entitled ‘Reducing grand corruption in Ukraine: several EU initiatives, but still insufficient results’,

− having regard to the European Court of Auditors’ Opinion 03/2023 concerning the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing the Ukraine Facility,

– having regard to the report of the High-Level Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of the War of 9 February 2024 entitled ‘An environmental compact for Ukraine’,

– having regard to the report of the Initiative on Greenhouse Gas Accounting of War of 1 November 2022 entitled ‘Climate damage caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine’ and the updates thereto,

– having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the Russian Federation has been conducting a full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine since 24 February 2022, in a blatant and flagrant violation of the UN Charter and the fundamental principles of international law;

B. whereas regular waves of attacks on energy infrastructure continue to cause destruction, leave millions of people across Ukraine with no electricity and disrupt water supply and heating systems; whereas the attacks have also damaged other civilian infrastructure; whereas thousands of civilians across Ukraine, including hundreds of children, have already been killed, injured or forcibly displaced; whereas according to UN humanitarian agency OCHA, more than 14.6 million people, around 40 % of the Ukrainian population, will need humanitarian aid in 2024; whereas the war has forced millions of people to flee, with nearly 4 million still internally displaced throughout Ukraine and over 6 million living as refugees abroad; whereas the war has resulted in 65 % of Ukrainian households reporting a decrease in their incomes since February 2022; whereas 44 % of Ukrainian households struggle to obtain enough money to meet their needs, and 45 % of Ukraine’s population belongs to at least one vulnerable group; whereas 3.6 million people are at risk of experiencing gender-based violence; whereas the prolongation of the conflict will result in persisting and worsening urgent needs in the coming months;

C. whereas on 30 September 2022, Russia unilaterally declared its annexation of the partly Russian-occupied Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, in addition to its previous annexation of the Crimean peninsula;

D. whereas people all over Europe are deeply concerned about the war, which has the potential to result in a war between nuclear power states;

E. whereas in March and April 2022, direct peace talks were held between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, during which a possible peace agreement was discussed;

F. whereas the war in Ukraine has resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides, and according to several military analysts, there is unlikely to be a military solution to the conflict in the short term; whereas the number of army deserters, who refuse to fight the war, is constantly increasing on both the Ukrainian and Russian sides;

G. whereas Ukrainian armed forces entered Russian territory in the Kursk region, occupying an area of approximately 1 260 km²; whereas Russia occupies more than 100 000 km² of Ukrainian territory;

H. whereas various representatives of European governments have declared the need for further European rearmament, including nuclear rearmament;

I. whereas the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and some Member States have expressed the need to lift all restrictions on the use of weapons donated by EU countries to the Ukrainian Government, allowing Ukraine to use these weapons for military action on Russian territory;

J. whereas the EU has allocated billions of euro in financial and military support to strengthening the capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces;

K. whereas since the start of the war, the EU and the Member States have made available over USD 167 billion in financial, military, humanitarian and refugee assistance to Ukraine; whereas in July 2024, the EU made available the first USD 1.6 billion generated from immobilised Russian assets, which will be channelled through the European Peace Facility and to the Ukraine Facility to bolster Ukraine’s military capabilities and to support the country’s reconstruction; whereas the EU formally opened accession negotiations with Ukraine in June 2024;

L. whereas on 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and of the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova;

1. Reiterates, in the strongest possible terms, its condemnation of the attack on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty resulting from the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine; condemns this invasion as a war of aggression that constitutes a serious violation of international law, in particular the UN Charter, and for which there is no justification; condemns Belarus’s involvement in this aggression;

2. Expresses its deepest solidarity with the people of Ukraine and the families of all the victims;

3. Stresses the urgent need for intensive, sustained diplomatic efforts to immediately put an end to the war in Ukraine and stop the suffering of the Ukrainian people; regrets the fact that a diplomatic and peaceful resolution to the conflict has not yet been found; calls for increased efforts to finally initiate a peace negotiation process that includes all parties, as recently demanded by European heads of government, such as the Chancellor of Germany; stresses that the acceptability of any potential peace deal for Ukraine can only be decided upon by Ukraine and its people, without any pressure from external powers;

4. Believes that the EU should undertake a major diplomatic initiative by convening a multilateral conference for peace and security; recalls that, according to Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union, the EU should promote multilateral solutions and ‘preserve peace, prevent conflicts and strengthen international security, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter [and] with the principles of the Helsinki Final Act’;

5. Urges the UN and its member states to step up their efforts to launch the political dialogue and mediation needed to prepare ceasefire and peace negotiations; calls for the EU to focus its efforts not only on financial support to Ukraine, but also on undertaking a diplomatic initiative to achieve a ceasefire and a political solution to the conflict;

6. Demands that the Russian Federation cease its use of force against Ukraine and refrain from any unlawful threat or use of force against any EU Member State; demands that the Russian Federation withdraw its military forces from the territory of Ukraine; reaffirms its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders, extending to its territorial waters; stresses that the EU will not recognise any decision on the annexation of territories of third states and calls on Russia to reverse its decision on the annexation of Ukrainian territories;

7. Urges Russia, in the strongest possible terms, to turn back from the path of violence and aggression it has chosen and to return to the path of dialogue and negotiation; urges NATO and its member countries not to further escalate the conflict by continuing to engage in a new arms race; deplores the announced deployment of US short-range and medium-range missiles in Germany;

8. Expresses deep concern over the geopolitical tensions between NATO and the Russian Federation in the common eastern neighbourhood, which risks leading to a direct confrontation between them, with potentially disastrous consequences for Europe and the world; recalls that EU citizens fear a confrontation or war with Russia;

9. Expresses its deep opposition to and concern about the risk of escalation of the conflict that could arise from the use of US, UK and Western weapons and missiles to attack targets in Russia, which could lead to a direct confrontation between the EU, NATO and Russia;

10. Considers that no military solution to the current conflict can be envisaged in the short term and express its disappointment at the EU’s lack of initiative, participation and cooperation in any negotiating process and the absence of efforts to identify concrete and realistic conditions under which negotiations could take place;

11. Expresses its dismay at the continuous large-scale Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, including energy facilities, residential areas, schools and hospitals; urges Russia to immediately stop all hostilities, bombardments and attacks against civilians; demands that all parties fully comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law to spare the civilian population and civilian objects, to refrain from attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless objects necessary for the survival of the civilian population and to respect and protect humanitarian personnel and consignments used for humanitarian relief operations; stresses that those responsible for war crimes must be held accountable in accordance with international law;

12. Denounces the effects that the war is having on women’s mental, physical, sexual and reproductive health; notes that the destruction of infrastructure in Ukraine is having disastrous consequences for the health of women, who are often the ones doing the nursing, medical and care work;

13. Expresses its concern about the economic, environmental, energy and social consequences that the war is having not only in Europe but worldwide; notes that inflation, caused in part by rising energy prices, is squeezing working people and the most vulnerable groups; expresses its concern about the environmental impact of the war and about the EU’s increasing energy dependence on liquefied gas from the United States;

14. Regrets the fact that the Temporary Protection Directive is interpreted so narrowly that many women who have fled Russia’s war of aggression cannot access abortion care or other sexual and reproductive health treatments, including treatments following sexual abuse; is appalled by the fact that, as a consequence, many women have been forced to return to war-torn Ukraine to access services relating to their sexual and reproductive health and rights and reproductive care; calls on the Commission to review the Temporary Protection Directive to ensure that all Member States are obliged to offer the same care that women could otherwise receive in Ukraine;

15. Calls for the EU to support international justice processes to try war crimes committed during the war; stresses the need to adhere to the principles of restoration and non-repetition;

16. Recalls that the reconstruction of Ukraine must be the highest priority and that Russia must contribute financially to this reconstruction; notes the importance of the reconstruction being based on the needs of the Ukrainian people, not on corporate profit interests; calls for the cancellation of Ukrainian debt in order to facilitate the reconstruction of the strategic and infrastructure enterprises destroyed in the war; supports the calls for an international conference to be organised in due time to raise funds under the Ukraine Solidarity Trust Fund; stresses the need to prioritise the reconstruction of the facilities needed to ensure the safe return of Ukrainians who wish to return;

17. Stresses the need to ensure that nobody fleeing Ukraine is being prevented from leaving, including victims of reproductive exploitation, and that all persons fleeing can benefit from protection and asylum, including international students, trans women and Ukrainian and Russian conscientious objectors, and are able to move onwards within the EU; condemns the detention of international students fleeing Ukraine; regrets the fact that Ukrainian men of a given age are prohibited by the Ukrainian authorities from fleeing the war; calls on the Ukrainian and Russian authorities to reconsider their policies of forced conscription of men between the ages of 18 and 60 with no military experience; expresses concern, furthermore, over the ‘partial mobilisation’ decreed in Russia in September 2022, which prohibits Russian men from leaving the country after receiving a conscription notice;

18. Is deeply concerned that, according to the European Court of Auditors’ 2021 report on reducing grand corruption in Ukraine, grand corruption and state capture were still widespread in Ukraine despite EU action to address the issue as a cross-cutting priority, and that oligarchs and vested interests across Ukraine were the root cause of corruption and posed the main obstacle to the rule of law and economic development in the country; highlights that the European Court of Auditors’ June 2023 opinion on the Ukraine Facility echoed the report’s message about grand corruption and state capture in Ukraine and noted that these elements pose a systemic risk to the Ukraine Facility; calls on the Commission to develop a strategic document on preventing and combating grand corruption, including state capture, in Ukraine, in line with the recommendation of the European Court of Auditors;

19. Is deeply concerned about the changes being made to Ukrainian labour law, recalling the importance of strong trade unions, good working conditions and a robust, functioning public sector as the foundation enabling a society to be well equipped to face external challenges, such as war;

20. Highlights the recommendations of the High-Level Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of the War; believes that more attention should be given to the environmental consequences of wars, especially in times of intensifying global ecological crises; urges the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court to include ‘ecocide’ as a core international crime under the Rome Statute;

21. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the President, Government and Parliament of Ukraine, the President, Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation.