Vitório Sorotiuk: Ukraine’s peace can’t be the aggressor’s peace

A speech by Vitório Sorotiuk, President of the Ukrainian-Brazilian Central Representation (UBCR) at the Community Demonstration on February 22 at 4 p.m. at Praça da Ucrânia in Curitiba, Paraná State, Brazil.

Dear members of the Ukrainian-Brazilian community

Friends of the Ukrainian-Brazilian community and Ukraine.

Monday, February 24, marks three years since Russia’s massive military invasion of Ukraine and aggression toward its people that initially started in 2014.

This aggression caused the largest population displacement in Europe, both abroad and within a country, since the end of World War II in 1945. 

More than 6 million Ukrainians have fled their homes and moved abroad. In addition to the thousands of deaths in the war, according to the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), Russia’s large-scale war of aggression has caused $170 billion in direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure as of November 2024.

Therefore, there are two major objectives: seeking peace with permanent security guarantees for Ukraine and the reconstruction of Ukraine.

The UN General Assembly, in its resolution of March 2, 2022, immediately classified Russia’s war against Ukraine as an act of aggression in violation of Article 2 of the UN Charter and, in its resolution of November 14, 2022, recognized the need to hold the Russian Federation accountable for its war of aggression, as well as legally and financially responsible for its internationally wrongful acts, and that Russia must pay reparations for the injuries and damage caused.

We are living in trying times, where the guarantors of Ukraine’s sovereignty are putting their oligarchic economic interests above international norms and the treaties they have signed.

In the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, when Ukraine transferred its nuclear arsenal to Russia in exchange for respecting its sovereignty, a document signed by Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and later France and China, it was established and written that they recognized and guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty over its territory. 

In 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the Treaty of Cooperation and Friendship and the parties agreed to respect each other’s territorial integrity, the inviolability of borders and the peaceful resolution of disputes and not to use threats or force.

But at the moment, all efforts through international laws and the construction of international organizations for coexistence between peoples are being set aside in order to put military and economic force in the foreground. 

Despite the adversity, we cannot fail to demand the international standards of coexistence established in the UN Charter and invoke the punishments due to the aggressor provided for in the Rome Statute, since Russia committed the crime of aggression, military crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by kidnapping thousands of children.

Whoever it is, even a primary school child who is going to write a paper on World War II and looks into the reasons for the conflict, will find the answer that the main reason for the war lies in Nazi ideology. 

The philosopher Slavoj Zizek said that the material power of ideology in the current Russian war of aggression against Ukraine should not be underestimated. It is in the ideology forged by the Russian elite to replace the ideology of the former Soviet Union that we must seek the main reason for the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

The Verkhovna Rada – Ukraine’s national legislature – adopted, at the beginning of May 2024, a resolution “On the use of the ideology of Russianism by the political regime of the Russian Federation, condemning the foundations and practices of Russianism as totalitarian and misanthropic”. 

The consequence of this ideology is the massive and systematic violation of human rights, both within the Russian Federation and in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Freedoms of assembly, demonstration, party membership, as well as feminism and sexual and behavioral freedom are seen by Russia as a “degeneration” of Western society. The slightest dissent in Russia is seen as a betrayal of national interests. 

Currently, the word “war” is banned and anyone who uses it is subject to arrest. Political opponents are either killed, poisoned or imprisoned if they are lucky. In the text of 44 thousand characters, which reaches approximately 20 pages, that Vladimir Putin published before the massive invasion, and in the interviews he gave, he stated in no uncertain terms that Ukraine is a creation of Lenin, that Ukraine does not exist. As the European Parliament Resolution of January 23 of this year rightly pointed out, Russian nationalism is the basis of the ideology of the state, which applies the concept of “Russkiy Mir” – “Russian world”. The self-aggrandizement of Russia and the Russians at the expense of violent oppression, the denial of the right to self-determination or, in general, the right to exist of other peoples

No matter how great Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts in negotiations with Russia, there was no way to dissuade it from its appetite for aggression as long as the ideology of Russianism persists, just as it did when Germany was led by the Nazis. It was not the failures of other countries to negotiate that provoked the war, but Nazi ideology.

We call on the members of the community to seek to unite all forces in support of Ukraine. It doesn’t matter whether a person is right-wing, centrist or left-wing. Our fight is against left-wing totalitarianism or right-wing fascism. What matters is that they are in favor of democracy and international norms. We must speak to all political forces. Our only side is the defense of peace, democracy and Ukraine’s sovereignty over its entire territory.

Peace for Ukraine cannot be the peace of cemeteries or the peace of the aggressor. Peace for Ukraine must be the peace of its sovereignty over its entire territory and real guarantees of security. Peace for Ukraine cannot be the unguaranteed text of the Budapest Memorandum. The cost of war cannot be borne by Ukraine, but by the aggressor. Crimes of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide cannot be negotiated, but must be investigated and punished. Peace for Ukraine cannot be one that benefits the aggressor, because it will continue to be not only a loss for Ukraine, but will also be a continuous threat to Europe and world peace.

We urge our community to remain active and mobilized in defense of Ukraine.

We urge Brazil to remain within the norms of International Law as a founder of the United Nations – UN, as is Ukraine.

Слава Україні! Slava Ukraini! Long live Ukraine!

Героям Слава! Heroiam Slava! Long live the Heroes.