This year, the ICUV team took part in the international security forum GLOBSEC 2024 in Prague, where our speakers were Victoria Voytsitska, Olena Halushka, Iryna Krasnoshtan and Vlada Dumenko. During the event, we held numerous meetings with Western politicians, diplomats and journalists, focusing our efforts on mobilising partners and strengthening global support for Ukraine. 

The main topics during the meetings were the security of Ukraine, the protection of Ukrainian energy facilities, the possibility of using our partners’ weapons to strike military facilities on the territory of Russia, sanctions and the confiscation of Russian assets, as well as the genocide of Ukraine that Russia is committing every day, including missile and drone terrorism aimed at destroying our energy infrastructure in order to put Ukraine into a total blackout.  

The GLOBSEC Forum is one of the key platforms in Central and Eastern Europe for discussing European global security and support for Ukraine. This year, at the event in Prague, we had the opportunity to meet and discuss topical issues with high-ranking officials from different countries. In particular, the forum was opened by Czech President Petr Pavel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The President of Finland and the Prime Minister of Denmark also attended the forum. In their speeches, high-ranking officials and representatives of their countries stressed the need to move from words to action and ensure Ukraine’s victory, as well as the awareness of the interdependence of global security and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel, in his speech at the forum, stressed that Western support for Ukraine is currently insufficient and emphasised the need to change the approach in order to help Ukraine more effectively in its struggle.

To achieve peace, it is necessary to ensure sufficient and predictable support for Ukraine.

Petr Pavel, President of the Czech Republic

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed that support for Ukraine and security issues will be a priority for the new European Commission. Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen focused on the supply of weapons to Ukraine, including American F-16 Fighting Falcon, stressing that Denmark has no restrictions on the use of the weapons provided.

It is impossible to win without weapons. And the only way to win is to give Ukrainians what they need.

Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark

We had 14 meetings with European high-ranking officials, including a delegation of deputies from the French National Assembly, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany and the Swedish Minister for Defence. During the GLOBSEC forum, our team organised an event “Coalition of Willing: Why justice is the only way towards sustainable peace?”, which gathered 30 participants and was focused on Ukraine’s victory. Among the speakers were:

• Moderator Olena Halushka, a member of the Kyiv City Council, a co-founder of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV), and Head of International Relations at Kyiv Anti-Corruption Action Centre
• Outi Holopainen, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Security Policy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland
• Jean-Noël Barrot, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the National Assembly of France
• Florin Spataru, State Counsellor within the Prime Minister’s Office of Romania
• Maria Mezentseva, Ukrainian politician, Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the European Union, and chairperson of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

The key moment was to involve more countries to join the coalition of willing, who are focused on ensuring Ukraine’s victory rather than negotiating with the aggressor. We also discussed long-term stable funding for Ukraine’s self-defence, in particular through the #MakeRussiaPay initiative and Ukraine’s integration into the EU. We discussed various resource options to strengthen Ukraine, including the full confiscation of $300 billion in assets from the Russian Central Bank, with a $50 billion loan secured by future profits from Russian assets as an interim step in this process. In addition, we stressed the need to allow the use of Western weapons to strike military facilities on the territory of Russia, including airfields. Another important issue was to establish a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine, which would create a reliable air defense shield for citizens and allow our partners to use air defense systems to destroy Russian missiles and drones that threaten Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

The Kursk operation has proved once again that Ukraine can take the strategic initiative and prove that the “red lines” actually exist only in the minds of our partners. No more “red lines”! Stop supporting Ukraine a little bit, it’s time to move on to “whatever it takes” for Ukraine’s victory!

Olena Halushka, co-founder of the International Centre for Victory of Ukraine

During the three days, our team gave numerous interviews to leading media in France, the United States and the Czech Republic, explaining the key challenges facing Ukraine. We wanted to convey to the citizens of the EU the importance of Ukraine’s victory, the need to provide it with weapons, as well as funding and military support. We continue to urge our partners to mobilise and increase European support for Ukraine’s victory.