Dear UCU Partners and Friends!

Your letters of compassion and support inspire us with great hope and gratitude for your reliable partnership! The situation in Ukraine is horrible – our militaries and civil people are dying under enemy bombs, the terrible sound of the alarm system in the morning and night makes us run and hide with our families in shelters. But in these darkest times, we are uniting and praying for peace and victory! We believe that challenges and threats make us stronger with a reliable, friendly shoulder both in Ukraine and abroad. In this situation, when many people in Ukraine feel constant anxiety and fear, we are trying to inspire optimism and hope. Today, it is significant for us to be an island of stability for all – God is merciful!

The whole Ukraine is teaming up to resist Russian aggression. But is it enough to stop the war with one of the largest world military powers? Elimination of the main variable of this war requires everyone’s help. Every one of us who believes in democracy, dignity before God, and humanity!

We have to unite as a world to stand against aggression. The academic community holds an unprecedented amount of political and social influence, and we are writing this letter today to stress that there is a strong demand for the intellectual elites at the world’s leading higher institutions to use the platform bestowed upon them to take a definitive stance today.

A clear position of academia worldwide and a consensus on Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine can be an important signal of condemnation of the actions of the Russian Federation and necessary support for Ukraine, democratic values, and international security.

The Academia must show its support for victims of this unprovoked war, which is unleashing a humanitarian crisis.

Therefore, we are requesting you to join other opinion leaders across the globe to stand with the Ukrainian people in the defense of our lives, the wellbeing of our families, and the security of our sovereign land. The key aim of the Russian attack is not only to seize Kyiv, and to shift Ukrainian legitimate authorities, but to prove their savage idea that democracy is not working, that it is weak and global order has collapsed.

We should unite all our efforts to stop it now!

Please, approach your national governments with the following appeals:

1. We ask to daily condemn the aggression on all and any diplomatic platform, in any international organization.

2. We ask for financial and humanitarian assistance, weapons, petrol and equipment for Ukraine.

3. We ask to lobby for devastating sanctions on Russia, including a SWIFT cut-off, embargo on the import of Russian oil and gas, freezing of Russian state assets abroad, closing ports and airports for Russian ships and planes. To stop the war, the world needs to introduce sanctions with immediate effects. Every day of delay means the death of innocent people.

4. We ask to completely block Russian state media in your countries. They spread lies, propaganda and poison your countrymen and countrywomen.

5. We ask to lobby for a No-Fly Zone over Ukraine. This practice was used in Libya in 2011 when NATO suspended all flights over the country’s territory. This measure should be introduced to protect Ukrainian civilians from Russian jets, drones, and missiles.

6. We ask you not to allow a naval blockade of Ukraine, since it will jeopardize not only the Ukrainian economy but also the food security of many countries.

7. We ask you to force Russian troops to leave the Chornobyl zone in order to avoid another global ecological catastrophe.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav says: “Our Ukraine, which the world fairly called “lands of blood”, which has been so many times sprinkled with the blood of martyrs and fighters for the freedom and independence of its people, calls us today to stand up for it – to defend its dignity before God and humanity, its rights for existence and the right to choose one’s future!”

We hope for your support!

Yours sincerely,

Rectorate and Operating Group

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You may use these reliable Ukrainian sources of information available in English:

https://www.voanews.com/

https://english.nv.ua/

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/

https://www.ukrinform.net/

https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba

https://www.instagram.com/svidomi_ua/

https://www.president.gov.ua/en

 

You may consult the UCU information channels:

https://www.facebook.com/UkrainianCatholicUniversity

https://www.instagram.com/ucu_official/

https://www.linkedin.com/school/ukrainian-catholic-university/

https://twitter.com/UCU_University

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtlA4CoiCUYd4cdD1681IWw

 

Financial Support

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