Ukraine Support Fund
Aid | Advocacy | Analysis
TORONTO — On February 21, the world witnessed Vladimir Putin deliver a speech in which he rejected the right of Ukraine to exist as an independent, sovereign European state. The imperialist pronouncements marked a dramatic shift in the dynamic of the Russіan-Ukrainian war, which Moscow launched in 2014 with the illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and military offensive in the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region. The devastating war orchestrated by Putin has already killed over 14,000 Ukrainians, with tens of thousands injured and millions forced into internal displacement after fleeing their homes.
Now Putin’s assertion of imposing colonial rule over Ukraine, by forcibly redrawing the borders of Eastern Europe, threatens to destroy the post-World War II order, by returning to a world in which international law no longer prevails and powerful states employ military might to intimidate, subjugate, and eliminate sovereign neighbors. Russia’s decision to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine as independent states not only nullifies the Minsk protocol, but this unprecedented development has also been condemned by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as “a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.”
Knowing full well that neither the Ukrainian government nor its people want war, in recent days Putin has nevertheless subjected Ukrainian towns in eastern Ukraine to non-stop shelling by Russian forces, with deaths and multiple injuries now reported.
In the face of an imminent massive military offensive, Ukraine’s economy is currently losing between $2 to $3 billion dollars monthly. Putin’s goal is not only to keep Ukraine embroiled in a military conflict on its territory, but to simultaneously destroy Ukraine’s economy, trigger instability, and create the opportunity for an FSB-backed coup to replace Kyiv’s democratic, pro-Western government. Western intelligence reports that Putin may soon launch a blitzkrieg attack on Kyiv, along with arrests and assassinations of prominent pro-European, pro-democratic Ukrainian political and community leaders.
We therefore call on the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany and all EU, G7 and NATO partners to strengthen punitive measures against the Russian Federation and take meaningful steps to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and security by undertaking the following action:
- Freezing the assets of oligarchs AND their spouses and children, under whose names, bank accounts and financial assets are held, including currency, real estate, yachts, stocks, and other investments;
- Expanding the list of sanctioned financial institutions to include VTB and Sberbank;
- Removing Russia from the SWIFT banking system;
- Delisting companies like Rosneft and other energy companies from the US, London, Frankfurt, and Tokyo stock exchanges;
- Providing Ukraine with an iron dome or similar air-defense system as soon as possible;
- Engaging the Western signatories of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum to ensure that Ukraine receives security assurances that were promised to Kyiv when it gave up its nuclear arsenal — the third largest in the world —as part of Ukraine’s accession to the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty;
- Immediate commencement of the construction of a US-UK-Ukraine naval base in Odesa;
- Applying persona non grata status to Russian diplomats immediately;
- Providing Ukraine with a clear timetable for its accession to the EU and NATO;
- Implementing a plan to transition away from Russian natural resources with a clear timeline on when Russian crude oil and gas will be substituted by providers who do not violate the international rule of law or engage in geopolitical blackmail in the export of their resources;
- Rescinding the broadcast licenses of Russia’s propaganda outlet, RT (Russia Today)
For further information or to arrange media comments, contact the Ukraine Support Fund office:
Tel: 647-749-1866
E-mail: office@ukrainesupportfund.org
For Immediate Release
February 22, 2022
An Appeal To the Leaders of the Free World:
Ukraine Support Fund | 620 Spadina Ave., Toronto, Ontario M5S 2H4 | Tel: 647-749-1866 | office@ukrainesupportfund.org