Europe and the entire transatlantic community woke up on February 24 2022 in a new reality. Law-based world order was in shambles and gruesome pictures of Ukraine being invaded by Russian aggressors left us with a sense of disbelief.
Only a few months earlier, in October 2021, we hosted Olha Stefanishyna, Hanna Hopko, Daria Kaleniuk and many other Ukrainian representatives on our stage during the Warsaw Security Forum. When Russia invaded Ukraine we realized they were now in grave danger. Together with the words of disbelief, anger and sympathy, we offered to support them with all means at our disposal and to bring them to safety. We were not surprised to learn not all of them wanted to leave their homeland, and immediately rushed to the border to assist their loved ones who decided to flee.
With every passing hour and day it became more and more clear that the NGO’s working until then in Ukraine must organize their work someplace else. We assisted in evacuation of the activists to Warsaw and helped them find a place to live and an office to work from. Within a week the International Centre for the Ukrainian Victory was established and we announced this to the world during the press conference on March 4th (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=attJjm855hw&t).
The main aim of the Centre is to build the international support for Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression; to support and coordinate efforts of the Ukrainian democracy promoting NGOs; to assist Ukrainian civil activists arriving in Poland and to support the relations between the international community and Ukrainian civil society. The Centre is already now focusing on advocating for the agenda of Ukraine’s post-war rebuilding, transformation, and accession to the EU and NATO. (http://ukrainianvictory.org/)
The pleas of urgent support required to aid those who fight with the aggressor is channeled through the Centre. Despite being outside Ukraine, all members devote their efforts to advocate for international support to Ukraine in the face of the tragedy it is now facing. In their meetings with politicians from around the world (UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, representatives of the German Bundestag, Polish and European parliamentarians) they constantly advocate for international support to Ukraine.
Now, with exactly 200 days left to the ninth edition of the Warsaw Security Forum (October 4-5), we, as the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, are continuing our efforts to invite the relevant speakers, to adjust the agenda to match the current situation and to ensure our Forum will bring clear answers and tangible results on how to save lives, end this cruel war and ensure peace and prosperity in Europe in the nearest possible future.
In the meantime we are also sharing our expertise on the current developments in Ukraine in our publications: https://pulaski.pl/en/publications/ and ask experts about their views and perspectives in short conversations within the #PulaskiGlobalTalks format: https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/pulaskiglobaltalks
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