Russian President Vladimir Putin should pay for the war he started in Ukraine, not Western taxpayers, said in Strasbourg, the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, who also thanked European countries for their support, reported Agence France-Presse.
At a time when Donald Trump's US is trying to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine directly with Russia, the head of the Rada made a statement before the summit of parliament speakers in the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe, which monitors the state of democracy and fundamental rights on the continent, consists of 46 countries after Russia was expelled from it after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The organization has created a register of damages, which it aims to present to Moscow.
In his speech, Stefanchuk also called on the international community to work towards the creation of a "special tribunal" to try those responsible for the conflict. He urged his European colleagues to use "their connections in Washington to share the truth about Ukraine".
"The world must see the scale of our suffering, the destruction we are enduring and the clear distinction between the victim and the aggressor", the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament stressed.
"The United States will always be a key partner and a reliable ally", the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament said, before mentioning "the decisive leadership of President Donald Trump".
"Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else. "We do not want an endless war, we want peace, but not at any cost," he assured.
Stefanchuk stressed that Kiev will never accept Russian control over the occupied territories or the weakening of its army and will not give up its right to choose its allies. "Ukraine needs real security guarantees, not empty promises," he stressed.
"We must not let Russia decide Ukraine's future in NATO."
The theme of this year's European Conference of Speakers of Parliaments, which takes place every two years, is "Safeguarding Democracy."
Acting Bundestag President Berbel Bass stressed that "Ukraine is fighting not only for its own freedom, but also for our European values."
"The people of Ukraine know that the enemies of freedom and democracy must never win," the leader of the lower house of the German parliament stressed, welcoming the Bundestag's recent vote in support of increasing military spending.
"It is clear that Germany will "take full responsibility in Europe," she noted.
The President of the French National Assembly, Yael Bron-Pivet, assured that "the Ukrainian people will not allow an unjust and unstable peace to be imposed on them."
She also condemned "foreign interference" in the democratic debate, citing as an example "direct American intervention in favor of the far right in Germany."