Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk and President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam visited Borodianka, Kyiv region, on February 4.
"Today is my second opportunity to meet with the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Before that, we met in Brussels. I want to thank you on behalf of the Parliament of Ukraine and the entire Ukrainian people for this visit. Your visit is very important to us," Kondratiuk told the NATO PA President, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
Kondratiuk and Garriaud-Maylam saw the consequences of the occupation by Russian troops, in particular, destroyed apartment blocks, and visited a modular town located near the destroyed school.
"Ms. President, we also expect that all European parliaments will join the initiative taken by the Parliamentary Assembly, namely, to recognize the Russian Federation as a terrorist state, to create a special tribunal," Kondratiuk said.
For her part, the President of the NATO PA thanked for inviting her to Ukraine.
"The fighting goes on, the aggressor is very powerful, and there is a need for weapons, all types of weapons, even aircraft. And we are trying to talk about this from the NATO PA rostrum, to say that, of course, we have to make some sacrifices, and that our sacrifices are nothing compared to what the Ukrainian people are going through," Garriaud-Maylam said.
The official added that the courage and resilience of Ukrainians are impressive.
"The courage and determination of Ukrainians, their resilience are impressive. And this is an example of how to defend one's freedom, democracy, one's own life and the lives of loved ones, how to defend the security of the peoples of Europe. The resilience of Ukraine fascinates and inspires us. It is impossible to get used to the feat of the Ukrainian people," she said.
The politician specified that the NATO Parliamentary Assembly supported Ukraine in the first hours of the full-scale war with the Russian Federation. She underscored that the NATO PA resolutely and steadfastly supports Ukraine.
Answering a question, Garriaud-Maylam specified that she and her colleagues arrived as representatives of the NATO Assembly.
"These are parliamentarians of NATO countries, this is not NATO. These are the people who can call on NATO to provide more help and do it as soon as possible. We can call on the people, the Secretary General, the leaders of the countries concerned to provide this assistance. We are fighting for peace through Ukraine's victory, and we understand that we must win quickly, that we must start winning now," Garriaud-Maylam said.
According to her, this means various types of aid, including military aid.
"But it must be understood that it turned out that the NATO countries were not preparing and no one was preparing for such a large-scale war. We do not even have the ammunition we need to meet the needs of such an intensive war. Therefore, this means that we all have to work together to develop the potential that will help us achieve our goal — peace through victory," she believes.
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