Estonian parlt speaker, other parlt leaders stress joint efforts in supporting Ukraine

TALLINN - President of the Estonian parliament Lauri Hussar, together with the president of the European Parliament and speakers from 14 countries, issued a joint statement reaffirming support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and stressing the importance of transatlantic unity and collective efforts to defeat the aggressor and prevent the spread of war.

The speakers note in the statement that despite the efforts of Ukraine and the international community to end the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, the Russian Federation is not backing down from its criminal goals of occupying the entire territory of Ukraine, as well as destroying the statehood and national identity of Ukrainians.

"It is more important than ever to maintain transatlantic unity and coherence of joint actions to defeat the aggressor and prevent the spread of chaos and war throughout the world," they said.

The speakers called on the nations of the world, their parliaments and governments to work towards a further increase in military, political, economic, financial and humanitarian assistance and support to Ukraine.

They also called on intensifying joint efforts to strengthen sanctions against the Russian Federation, its military-industrial complex, energy sector, financial networks and digital infrastructure and the so-called "shadow fleet," and on imposing sanctions on entities involved in the circumvention of these sanctions by the Russian Federation.

The speakers promised to encourage further support and investment in the recovery and reconstruction, reforms and modernization of Ukraine.

"This includes providing emergency assistance to meet urgent needs, implementing early recovery projects, creating an attractive business environment to facilitate private sector investment in Ukraine, as well as enabling local communities to participate fully in the recovery and civil society to be actively involved in the reconstruction process," they said, and underlined the need to support increased foreign investment in the Ukrainian defense industry.

"We appreciate that the Ukrainian fight against the aggressor contributes to the security of the European continent and therefore agree to continue to make joint efforts to support Ukraine's European integration and extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization when allies agree and conditions are met," the speakers emphasized in the joint statement made on the third anniversary of the full-scale war of aggression.

The joint statement was signed by the speakers of the parliaments of Albania, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Ukraine, and the European Parliament.