The Ukrainian flag will fly again in Crimea and bring it European values and an end to religious and ethnic persecution, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said today, addressing the participants of the first parliamentary summit of the Crimean Platform in Zagreb via video link.
"With cooperation, we can completely change the situation. The return of the Ukrainian flag to Crimea is a return to European standards. To what you all have in your countries - security, resolved social issues, culture, education," he added.
Zelensky repeated that Ukraine needs military and financial support in the fight against the Russian aggressor.
"It is the foundation for future peace," he pointed out, adding that after the Russian invasion, the world became "a crueler place where Russia can cause hunger" by blocking free navigation and halting exports.
Zelenski thanked "Croatian friends" for the invitation and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for his hospitality, and he appealed to those gathered to "visit the liberated Crimea as soon as Ukraine returns there."
Plenković said at the beginning of the meeting that he was glad that "the world did not repeat the mistakes of 30 years ago when Croatia did not have a general expression of solidarity like Ukraine has today".
"We in Croatia know what aggression is, what force and the denial of the right to exist are. We appreciate the Ukrainian struggle for freedom, truth and democracy," he emphasized.
Plenković repeated that in 1991, Croatia was among the first to support Ukraine in its quest for independence, and that Ukraine was among the first to recognize Croatia and help it militarily.
"We will never forget that," Plenković added.
Plenković also said that Croatia "will offer Kyiv its expertise in areas such as veterans' rehabilitation or demining.
Plenković also said that the gathering in Zagreb sends a strong message of support for "the world order that is based on international law, on the principles of global governance behind which the entire democratic world stands" which, he added, "will not accept the model that Russia used in Crimea, and then in the newly occupied parts of Ukraine - attack, expel, occupy, organize fake referendums and annex".
"You are not alone, you are fighting for justice, peace and freedom," concluded Plenković in his address to the participants of the parliamentary summit of the Crimean Platform in Zagreb.
The Crimean Platform is a Ukrainian initiative to unify international efforts to return Crimea to Ukraine. The first summit at the level of heads of state or government was held in August 2021 in Kyiv, and the next one this year in August, in a virtual format.
At the first parliamentary summit in Zagreb, 42 delegations from 32 countries participate, and 11 countries participate via video message, among them France, Hungary, Japan and Canada.
Serbia was invited to the summit, but did not respond to the invitation.
Bonus video:
