Putin must simply issue order to stop war, pull troops - EU

That’s according to an EU statement on the Russian Federation’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, voiced during the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on June 24, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“At four o’clock on 24 February the largest war of aggression in Europe since the Second World War started, bringing untold suffering to the people of Ukraine. The world knows who the aggressor is. With its premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified attack, Russia chose to be the aggressor, which we strongly condemn. The world continues to stand in full solidarity with Ukraine and its people,” the statement reads.

It recalls that last week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet told the Human Rights Council that the extent of death and destruction in Mariupol suggested serious international law violations and that “the horrors inflicted on the civilian population would leave their indelible mark, including on generations to come.”

Meanwhile, a few weeks ago, the Russian Ambassador to the UK described this destruction as “a collateral damage.”

“This seems now to be cynically repeated in Sieverodonetsk and in other places in Ukraine. Avoiding such a damage is quite easy to achieve. President Putin simply needs to order a halt to this war and withdraw all Russian forces and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders,” the statement reads.

Russia’s aggression is a “tragedy” for Ukraine, the EU says, adding that it also constitutes an “acute challenge” for the international community as Russian officials and representatives question the term “international rules-based order.”

“The recent statement by President Putin about the ‘return and strengthening of lands’ exposed the imperialist nature of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and clearly demonstrated his violent and neo-imperialist attempt at sheer territorial conquest and rewriting history,” the EU stressed.

Following the strategic failure to achieve a full-scale invasion of its neighbour, the Kremlin turned to scorched earth tactics in Ukraine, razing whole cities to the ground with indiscriminate shelling and bombardments, also on civilian objects. There are widespread reports about forcible deportation of Ukrainian citizens, including children to Russia, also through so-called “filtration camps”.

The EU “will continue to provide strong support for Ukraine’s overall economic, military, social and financial resilience, including humanitarian aid.”

“Our financial sanctions, aimed at reducing the military capabilities of the aggressor, are another crucial part of this equation. Wars of aggression did not pay off in the past and it is even more imperative that they do not pay off in today’s world,” the statement concludes.