On reinforcing EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression and the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia

B100193/2024

European Parliament resolution on reinforcing EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression and the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia

(2024/2940(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Ukraine and on Russia since 1 March 2022, in particular that of 17 July 2024 on the need for the EU’s continuous support for Ukraine,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation on the Korean Peninsula,

– having regard to the joint statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea Cho Tae-yul and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell of 4 November 2024 on DPRK-Russia Cooperation,

– having regard to the Charter of the United Nations,

– having regard to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,

– having regard to the Council of Europe Resolution CM/Res(2023)3 establishing the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the register of damage caused by the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine,

– having regard to the Geneva Conventions,

– having regard to international law, particularly the UN Charter and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,

– having regard to United Nations Security Council resolutions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),

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

A. whereas Russia has been waging an illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine since 24 February 2022, in continuation of previous aggressions since 2014; whereas Russia continues to persistently violate the principles of the UN Charter through its ongoing aggression and violation of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine and to blatantly and grossly violate international humanitarian law, as established by the Geneva Conventions of 1949;

B. whereas the UN General Assembly, in its resolution of 2 March 2022, immediately qualified the Russian war against Ukraine as an act of aggression in violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, and, in its resolution of 14 November 2022, recognised the need to hold the Russian Federation accountable for its war of aggression and legally and financially responsible for its internationally wrongful acts, including by making reparation for the injuries and damage caused;

C. whereas the EU and its Member States, together with international partners and NATO allies, continue providing military support to Ukraine to help it exercise its legitimate right to self-defence against the Russian war of aggression in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter;

D. whereas under international law Ukraine’s right to self-defence includes proportional military action extending beyond its own territory;

E. whereas Ukraine needs to be provided with the necessary military capabilities for as long as it takes for it to achieve a decisive military victory to end Russia’s illegal war of aggression, restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and deter any future aggression; whereas Ukraine, in defending itself, is also protecting and fighting for European values and core security interests;

F. whereas the EU provided over EUR 25 billion of macro-financial support to Ukraine in 2022 and 2023 and has established the Ukraine Facility, a dedicated financial instrument that will allow it to provide Ukraine with up to EUR 50 billion in predictable and flexible financial support during the years 2024 to 2027, out of which EUR 12.2 billion has already been disbursed to Ukraine;

G. whereas Russia continues to wage its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, including through massive and deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure across the entire country; whereas Russia has effectively damaged or destroyed up to 80 % of the country’s energy infrastructure, which risks creating a severe humanitarian crisis in Ukraine during the coming winter months;

H. whereas Ukraine has reportedly used donated long-range weapons systems against military targets within Russian territory following the recent lifting of restrictions by donor countries;

I. whereas, on 18 June 2024, Russia and the DPRK signed a Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which includes mutual defence commitments, military-technical cooperation and provisions for the exchange of defence and nuclear technology;

J. whereas, on 26 September 2024, the Russian Government stated that it considered the denuclearisation of the DPRK to be meaningless and a ‘closed issue’;

K. whereas the DPRK has provided arms to Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine since the beginning of the war; whereas more recently the DPRK has reportedly deployed 15 000 troops in Russia, further escalating the war against Ukraine and undermining global stability;

L. whereas the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership includes mechanisms for defence assistance, nuclear cooperation and trade that undermines existing sanctions regimes designed to deter the DPRK’s nuclear ambitions and to stop Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine;

M. whereas the DPRK has escalated its threats, abandoned its unification policy and continued provocations in the region, particularly through missile tests and military demonstrations, which increase the risk of military conflict and undermine efforts for a peaceful resolution to the situation on the Korean Peninsula;

N. whereas the UN has repeatedly condemned the North Korean Government for committing widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights, including extrajudicial executions, torture, arbitrary detention and the denial of fundamental freedoms, such as the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and movement; whereas UN reports document the existence of political prison camps in which tens of thousands of individuals, including children, are subjected to forced labour, torture and executions without trial; whereas according to the UN, China has been sending North Korean refugees back to the DPRK, in violation of international law, particularly the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol thereto, which prohibit the forced return of individuals to countries where they would face persecution, torture or inhumane treatment;

1. Reiterates its unwavering solidarity with the people of Ukraine and its steadfast support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders; reaffirms its support, therefore, for the commitments of the EU and its Member States to provide humanitarian assistance, military support, economic and financial aid, as well as political support in every possible way in order to ultimately stop Russia’s war of aggression and allow Ukraine to liberate all its people, re-establish full control over its entire territory within its internationally recognised borders and deter any further aggression by Russia;

2. Reaffirms its unequivocal condemnation of Russia’s unlawful and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine; demands that Russia, along with its proxy forces, immediately halt all military operations and withdraw all military personnel, proxies and equipment from the entirety of Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory;

3. Condemns all countries that are providing military equipment, financial support or any other form of assistance to Russia, thereby enabling and intensifying its ongoing aggression;

4. Expresses grave concern about the Russia-DPRK Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and potential transfer of military and nuclear technology;

5. Strongly criticises the deployment of North Korean troops in support of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine; considers this to be an escalation of authoritarian collaboration against the rules-based international order;

6. Calls on Russia to cease all forms of military and technological cooperation with the DPRK and to abide by its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and multiple UN Security Council resolutions;

7. Warns of the very serious risks that would result from an expansion of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine; stresses that the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the DPRK and Russia should not extend to the war against Ukraine, as the war was initiated by Russia’s unprovoked, illegal and unjustified aggression against Ukraine, and thus cannot be classified as a defensive war; urges the DPRK to immediately withdraw its troops and stop providing military support to Russia as part of its war of aggression against Ukraine;

8. Welcomes the European Council conclusions of 18 November 2024 that underline ‘the importance of bringing Ukraine closer to EU defence initiatives, in line with the joint security commitments between the European Union and Ukraine signed on 27 June 2024’ and that encourage ‘participating Member States, with the support of the PESCO [Permanent Structured Cooperation] Secretariat, to facilitate Ukraine’s participation in PESCO projects’;

9. Urges the EU and its Member States to increase the effectiveness and sustainability of their support for Ukraine, in particular by substantially enhancing and accelerating military support and by committing to long-term financial support in order to help Ukraine defend itself, protect its people, maintain essential services for its citizens, allow for economic and social recovery and continue the necessary reforms on the way towards EU membership;

10. Welcomes the reported decision by several allied states to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range Western weapon systems against military targets on Russian territory, as permitted under international law; reiterates its call on all Member States to remove their own restrictions on the use of weapons they have donated to Ukraine for targeting military sites in Russia as these military sites are used for launching attacks on Ukraine’s population and critical civilian infrastructure;

11. Underlines that insufficient deliveries of ammunition and weapons and restrictions on their use risk undermining the efforts made so far; reiterates, therefore, its calls on all Member States to fulfil their commitment of March 2023 to deliver one million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine and to accelerate the delivery of all weapons requested by Ukraine, in particular modern air defence systems and man-portable air-defence systems already in the possession of the Member States; welcomes the continued support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces through the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine and calls on the Member States to further expand training operations; urges the Member States to actively pressure Hungary to end its irresponsible blockade of the European Peace Facility, including the newly established Ukraine Assistance Fund, which has prevented the release of EUR 6.6 billion in partial reimbursements to Member States providing military support to Ukraine;

12. Urges the EU and its Member States to fulfil the commitments of the 2022 Versailles Declaration and to accelerate the full implementation of the Strategic Compass by enhancing European military cooperation at industrial and armed forces level, in order to make the EU a stronger and more capable security provider that is interoperable and complementary with NATO; welcomes Member States’ and EU institutions’ increased budgets and investments in defence, and calls for a further increase in targeted spending, joint procurement and joint investment in defence research and development; stresses that concrete steps should be taken towards Ukraine’s integration in EU defence and cybersecurity policies and programmes during the EU accession process; welcomes, in this regard, the establishment of the EU Defence Innovation Office in Kyiv and the European Council conclusions 14375/24 of 18 November 2024 further encouraging participating Member States to facilitate Ukraine’s participation in PESCO projects, within the current legal framework governing third States’ participation;

13. Calls on the international community to remain vigilant in monitoring and effectively responding to the developments arising from the Russia-DPRK Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, considering its potential to provoke further destabilisation in both Europe and the Korean Peninsula;

14. Urges the DPRK to halt its provocations and threats, reinstate its commitment to peaceful unification policies and refrain from actions that could further destabilise the region; reiterates its call for the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and urges the DPRK to take concrete steps towards abandoning all nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and related programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner;

15. Highlights China’s significant influence over the DPRK and Russia and urges China to help to reduce tensions and prevent the further escalation of hostilities; urges the Chinese Government to cease refoulement practices and provide North Korean refugees with access to international protection; calls on the DPRK to grant UN human rights bodies access to the country to assess the human rights situation, enforced disappearances and the conditions of detainees and returned refugees, including the cases of Kim Cheol-ok and South Korean missionaries Kim Jung Wook, Kim Kook Kie, Choi Chun Gil;

16. Requests that the EU, the UN and their respective member states uphold and expand sanctions on the DPRK and Russia to prevent further military collaboration that supports the violation of international humanitarian law and the illicit transfer of military technologies; calls for the EU, the UN and their respective member states to explore additional economic and diplomatic measures to curb the destabilising effects of the alliance between the DPRK and Russia;

17. Calls on the Council to extend its sanctions against Russia, Belarus as well as non-EU countries and entities providing the Russian military complex with military and dual-use technologies and equipment; reiterates its call for a full embargo on EU imports of Russian fossil fuels and liquefied natural gas, and to further lower the price-cap on Russian petroleum products in coordination with G7 partners in order to stop contributing to financing Russia’s illegal war of aggression;

18. Welcomes the agreement with the Council on macro-financial assistance for Ukraine of up to EUR 35 billion, making use of frozen Russian assets as well as the new G7 loan mechanism; calls for the swift implementation of both tools in order to allow Ukraine to benefit as quickly as possible from these new funding possibilities;

19. Calls on the Commission to propose long-term financial assistance beyond 2027 for the reconstruction of Ukraine, building on the experience of the Ukraine Facility;

20. Strongly condemns the ongoing criminal attacks by Russia against critical civil infrastructure in Ukraine, such as on residential structures, hospitals and schools, and particularly the targeting of energy infrastructure, with the deliberate goal of exacerbating the suffering of the Ukrainian people; calls for urgent and coordinated international efforts to provide timely humanitarian assistance to those affected and to ensure dedicated and massive support for Ukraine’s energy security in view of the harsh winter months ahead;

21. Reiterates its firm conviction that Russia is obligated to pay reparations for the massive material and immaterial damage it has caused in Ukraine; welcomes, therefore, the decision of the Council to direct extraordinary revenues stemming from immobilised Russian state assets to the Ukraine Assistance Fund and the Ukraine Facility in order to support Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction; welcomes the G7’s decision to offer Ukraine a USD 50 billion loan secured by immobilised Russian state assets; calls for the EU to carry on this work by adapting its sanctions legislation as necessary and by establishing a sound legal regime allowing for the confiscation of Russian state-owned assets frozen by the EU and for their use to address the various consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, including the reconstruction of the country and compensation for the victims of Russia’s aggression;

22. Calls for the EU and its Member States to actively work to secure broad international support for Ukraine’s peace plan; reiterates that any acceptable resolution to the war of aggression against Ukraine must respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity, international law and the minimum international legal standards underpinning the pillars of transitional justice, including guarantees of non-recurrence, accountability for the war crimes and crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression; reiterates that Russia must pay reparations for the extensive material and immaterial damage inflicted upon Ukraine; stresses that the Ukrainian Government must be involved in any discussion on such potential solutions; calls on like-minded partners to respect and uphold these principles;

23. 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 Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the President, Government and Parliament of Ukraine.