Reinforces contention that peace must be based on international law
Parliamentary speaker José Pedro Aguiar-Branco is in Ukraine today to take part in a ceremony marking three years since the massacre of more than 300 people in Bucha by Russian troops in the early days of the war.
Accompanied by MP and former PS parliamentary leader Eurico Brilhante Dias – the current president of the Portugal-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group – Aguiar-Branco will also meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Before returning to Lisbon, the Portuguese delegation will attend a dinner hosted by the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk.
In his various speeches on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco has criticised “the illusion” of immediate peace at any price, arguing that the solution must be based on international law.
Without mentioning recent incidents, Aguiar-Branco has acknowledged that there is a desire for peace and for a world based on rules, justice, and respect for human rights.
“These are the values that our ancestors fought for and that Ukrainians have been fighting for in recent years”, he said in a speech in Cascais last month. “This is the legacy that we cannot afford to throw away out of indifference, or out of the illusion of immediate peace at any price in the current international context (…) Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago. There is an aggressor and there is a victim. Ukraine is the victim.” ND
Source material: LUSA
