On the need for unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after two years of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine

B90157/2024

European Parliament resolution on the need for unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after two years of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine

(2024/2526(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Ukraine and on Russia,

– having regard to NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept,

– having regard to the Association Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part, and to the accompanying Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area between the European Union and Ukraine, signed in 2014,

– having regard to Ukraine’s application for EU membership of 28 February 2022 and the European Council’s consequent granting of candidate status on 23 June 2022 based on a positive assessment by the Commission and in line with the views expressed by Parliament,

– having regard to the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention),

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

– having regard to the Charter of the United Nations,

– having regard to the Commission proposal of 20 June 2023 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing the Ukraine Facility (COM(2023)0338),

– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas Russia, with the support of Belarusian dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka, has been conducting an illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine since 24 February 2022, in clear violation of the UN Charter and the fundamental principles of international law, causing immense suffering and destruction; whereas the aggression began as early as 2014 with the occupation of Crimea and parts of the Donetska and Luhanska oblasts;

B. whereas atrocities committed in the occupied territories, as well as indiscriminate attacks by Russian forces on residential areas and civilian infrastructure, have led to thousands of civilian casualties, including children, and widespread human rights violations, reflecting a blatant disregard for international humanitarian law; whereas this inhumane conduct by the Russian forces and their proxies constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity and amounts to genocide;

C. whereas the leadership of the Russian Federation openly denies that Ukraine exists as a nation and calls for its culture and identity to be eradicated; whereas as a result, Russia has attempted to ethnically cleanse Ukraine through mass atrocities, systematic cases of deliberate killing of civilians, mass deportations, the transfer of displaced Ukrainian children into Russia and the seizure and looting of Ukraine’s cultural heritage in an effort to destroy any artefacts demonstrating Ukraine’s authentic national identity and to erase Ukrainian culture and statehood, which amounts to genocide;

D. whereas the ongoing aggression has resulted in the displacement of millions of Ukrainians, both internally and externally as refugees, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis and necessitating extensive support for the affected populations;

E. whereas the European Union, its Member States and their partners have demonstrated solidarity with Ukraine, by providing military, humanitarian and economic support; whereas they, however, recognise the need for intensified efforts to respond to the evolving situation;

F. whereas the Ukraine Defence Contact Group consists of more than 50 like-minded countries and has played a pivotal role in coordinating international military support, underscoring the importance of collective action in defence of democracy and sovereignty; whereas in contrast, Russia is being supported by an axis of the most autocratic and atrocious totalitarian regimes, such as North Korea, Iran and Syria; whereas NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated that NATO members must prepare themselves for a possible confrontation with Russia that could last decades;

G. whereas Russia’s war of aggression has had the direct consequence of Finland and Sweden applying for NATO membership, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia applying for EU membership, robust security assistance packages being delivered to Ukraine by over 50 countries, and strong political support for Ukraine being expressed at the UN, resulting in Russia being unable to achieve its goal of re-imposing spheres of influence, blackmailing the West and destroying the rules-based international order;

H. whereas NATO and leading allies, especially the United States and the United Kingdom, have played a crucial role in coordinating and leading the efforts to support Ukraine militarily, not only with weapons, ammunition and equipment, but also with intelligence and data; whereas the ongoing war of aggression further confirms that the most important country for European security remains the United States, as the war continues to reveal profound and unacceptable shortfalls in Europe’s ability to defend itself; whereas these events have underlined the role of Poland as a respected EU and NATO member and the main hub for support to Ukraine;

I. whereas the EU has adopted 13 sanctions packages against Russia so far; whereas stronger and more effective sanctions are imperative to halt its aggressive actions and support a peaceful resolution to the conflict;

J. whereas establishing a special tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the war of aggression against Ukraine is essential to uphold international law and deliver justice for victims;

K. whereas previous policies vis-à-vis the Russian Federation failed to halt its imperialism and have resulted only in increasingly ruinous wars of aggression, such that anything short of victory for Ukraine would be an intolerable outcome for international peace, human rights and democracy;

L. whereas it is estimated that the EU and other partners have frozen EUR 300 billion of Russia’s central bank reserves and EUR 21.5 billion in Russian oligarchs’ money, while the US and other Western allies have blocked or seized more than USD 58 billion in assets owned or controlled by sanctioned Russians;

M. whereas the decision by the Islamic Republic of Iran to supply Russia with thousands of Shahed drones has further cemented its status as a pariah state; whereas Russia is continuing to receive support from countries such as North Korea and China; whereas North Korea has allegedly delivered over 2.5 million rounds of ammunition and other weapons since August 2023, which further demonstrates its unwavering hostility to international laws and norms;

N. whereas Russia is responsible for the global food security crisis, as a result of its war of aggression against Ukraine and its blockade of Ukrainian seaports; whereas Russia has been weaponising food and hunger since the beginning of the war; whereas the Commission has not properly addressed the EU’s response to the crisis fomented by Russia in the European agricultural market, which is one of the reasons for protests by European farmers; whereas Russian grain exports to the EU, and their transit via European ports, have increased and are the cause of current instability;

O. whereas the war has also had an impact on the EU and other countries and has led to a sharp increase in energy prices and inflation, with neighbouring European countries bearing the biggest burden in terms of humanitarian aid and the cost of hosting refugees;

P. whereas numerous international actors have recognised Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and a state that uses means of terrorism, and this should now be followed by concrete measures; whereas as long as Russia remains an imperial state, it will continue to represent an ever-present threat of aggression on the European continent, and there is no reason to believe that Vladimir Putin’s successor would be any more peaceful;

Q. whereas on 28 February 2022, Ukraine applied for EU membership and on 23 June 2022, the European Council granted candidate status to Ukraine;

1. Reiterates its unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognised borders; reiterates its strongest condemnation of Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine; demands that Russia and its proxy forces cease all military actions, in particular their attacks against residential areas and civilian infrastructure, and that Russia withdraw all military forces, proxies and military equipment from the entire internationally recognised territory of Ukraine;

2. Reaffirms its unwavering solidarity with the people of Ukraine, who continue to show remarkable courage, unity and resilience at all levels – from the political leadership to the armed forces and to individual citizens – under unrelenting threats and attacks since 24 February 2022 and over the last nine years of Russian aggression; recalls that Ukrainians not only fight for their own freedom, but also to ensure other European countries’ freedom from Russian imperialism; condemns, in the strongest terms, the illegal occupation and occupation of Crimea, the Donbas, Luhanska and part of the Kherson region; highlights that Russia’s actions, including illicit conscriptions, deportations, kidnappings, abductions, including of journalists, human rights defenders and lawyers, Russification and attempts to forcibly change the demographic composition of the population, constitute acts of genocide, as explicitly described in the Genocide Convention;

3. Underlines that, 10 years after the start of Russia’s aggression and two years after its full-scale invasion, the goals of Ukraine’s Western allies remain unchanged, and include the military collapse of Russian forces and their proxies in Ukraine, which will enable Kyiv to fully restore its territorial integrity, ensure that Russia pays compensation to Ukraine for the tremendous suffering it has caused, make sure that Russian imperialism is rooted out to never return and bring to justice those responsible for waging the war of aggression against Ukraine and for the crimes they have committed, including Vladimir Putin and Aliaksandr Lukashenka, as well as war criminals in the lower echelons of the Russian Government, the Russian armed forces and their proxies;

4. Strongly encourages the collective West to discard any self-imposed restrictions and increase and accelerate financial and military assistance to Ukraine; calls for the immediate deployment of modern equipment, weapons and next-generation air-defence and surface-to-surface systems, including the Taurus system, as well as direly needed ammunition; calls for increased and systematic investments in order to increase arms and munitions production in Europe and among energy-security partners; highlights the European and Ukrainian defence industries’ convergent interests in close collaboration, including co-production, particularly in support of Ukraine’s defence capacity against Russia’s genocidal war;

5. Commends the Ukraine Defence Contact Group for its vital role in coordinating international support and urges the EU Member States to increase their contributions to bolster Ukraine’s defence capabilities;

6. Regrets that the EU has not yet delivered its promised one million rounds of artillery shells for Ukraine; recalls that Ukraine needs around 240 000 shells a month and that even the promised million would cover only a quarter of the Ukrainian army’s yearly needs; calls for the EU and its Member States to be even more ambitious in their goals for 2024 and 2025; points out that Russia alone will produce one million shells in 2024 and up to three million in 2025, despite economic sanctions;

7. Underlines that a lack of more decisive and substantial military aid from the West will only encourage Russia to continue its aggression; notes that the Russian aggression has clearly shown the role of NATO as the primary guarantor of European security; underlines that, following Sweden’s and Finland’s accession, only four EU Members are not NATO allies, namely Austria, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta; calls for the EU Member States to increase their spending to reach at least the 2 % threshold and for more complementarity and less duplication between the EU and NATO;

8. Stresses that, despite the 13 packages of sanctions adopted by the EU so far, Russia is still able to circumvent them by relying on third countries; calls for the EU and its Member States to improve the oversight of sanctions implementation and to develop an effective mechanism to limit Russia’s ability to circumvent sanctions; expresses its deep concern regarding ongoing trade in sanctioned war-critical goods between Member States and Russia;

9. Recalls that the costs of the ongoing aggression, destruction and suffering of the Ukrainian people will be paid directly or indirectly by all the citizens of the Russian Federation; underlines that the short-term goal for the collective West should be to enable a Ukrainian victory, while the long-term strategy towards Russia should focus on deterrence and ensure that any changes in Russia are linked with anti-imperialism, decolonisation and a clear break with its imperial past; is conscious of the fact that Ukraine, which has sacrificed tens of thousands of lives, did so, in part, to protect European independence and democracy;

10. Reminds businesses, individuals, financial institutions and others that operate in or have value chains linked to the Russian Federation or the areas it occupies in Ukraine, including investors, consultants, non-governmental organisations and due diligence service providers, that they will face significant operational, legal, economic and reputational risks associated with their Russian business operations and relationships; urges companies from the EU and EU candidate and potential candidate countries to close down their operations in Russia and to exercise particular diligence when exporting goods that are prohibited from being exported to Russia; emphasises that EU companies and their subsidiaries that are found to be in violation of EU restrictive measures should be ineligible for funding, including for tenders and other forms of funding as part of the Ukraine Facility and other reconstruction programmes in Ukraine;

11. Calls for sanctions to also be applied to those countries that willingly fuel the Russian war machine, supply equipment and ammunition to the aggressor or facilitate the circumvention of sanctions;

12. Welcomes Ukraine’s successful actions that re-opened the Black Sea route for Ukrainian grain to reach its traditional markets; calls on the international community to permanently secure these achievements and the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea for commercial purposes; calls for an agricultural equivalent to the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (‘agricultural Ramstein’) to be established in order to deal with the food crisis and market instability caused by the Russian invasion, which the European authorities have not properly addressed; calls for the EU, its Member States, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and other relevant stakeholders to express greater solidarity, stabilise the market, halt imports and the transit of Russian grain, establish effective measures to monitor the transit of Ukrainian agriculture products and introduce measures to mitigate the effects on European farmers, whose reasonable protests and demands are also being exploited and targeted by Russian disinformation;

13. Encourages the European External Action Service to conduct a campaign to expose the realities of Russian colonialism, imperialism and racism to the Global South;

14. Reiterates its call on the Member States and the international community to urgently set up a special ad hoc international criminal tribunal, in close cooperation with Ukraine, to investigate and prosecute the crime of aggression against Ukraine and bring the perpetrators to justice, taking into account the limitations of existing international legal frameworks regulating the creation of tribunals and on judging the crime of aggression; calls for the EU and its Member States to provide financial, juridical and all other necessary support to the tribunal once it has been established;

15. Underlines that there can be no impunity for the crime of aggression and that the instigators and perpetrators of the war of aggression against Ukraine – the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, the President of Belarus, Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, and the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu – as well as all those involved in the planning, preparation, initiation or waging of the war against Ukraine should be brought to international justice and are not entitled to personal immunity;

16. Condemns Russia’s practice of blocking any action at UN level aimed at holding it accountable for its war of aggression against Ukraine; calls on all UN member states to take action, taking into account the fact that the Russian Federation with its war of aggression against Ukraine has severely violated the very foundations of the UN Charter, to revoke Russia’s veto powers at the Security Council and expel Russia from the UN, emulating the USSR’s expulsion from the League of Nations in 1939 after its aggression towards Poland and Finland;

17. Reiterates its firm belief that the rebuilding of Ukraine should be funded by Russia, as the perpetrator of the aggression should pay for its war crimes; calls for the EU and its Member States, together with like-minded partners, to urgently establish a legal instrument allowing for frozen Russian assets and funds to be confiscated so that they can be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine; calls, likewise, for a mechanism to be envisaged to compel the Russian Federation to pay long-term reparations to Ukraine;

18. Supports the idea of creating an international naval mission in the Black Sea with the aim of securing transport corridors to and from Ukraine, especially for the export of Ukrainian grain;

19. 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 Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Criminal Court, the President, Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation, and the President, Government and Parliament of Ukraine.