The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, presented the 2022 Sakharov Prize to the “courageous people of Ukraine”, represented by its President, elected representatives and civil society representatives, on Wednesday 14 December in Strasbourg.
“No one deserves this prize more” than the Ukrainian people, she said at the ceremony in the Chamber. Awarded for the first time to an entire people on the 293rd day of the war, it is “a clear message from Europe: we stand by Ukraine. We will not look away”, Ms Metsola stressed, recalling the EU’s support for the country since 24 February.
According to the Parliament President, “the Ukrainian people are not only fighting a war of independence, but a war of values. The values that underpin our life in the EU, and which we have long had the luxury of taking for granted”. “I know we will have to do more, but let today be a reminder of our steadfast support”, she added. She went on to warn that: “The Ukrainian people will not give in and we will not give in either”.
By video conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the European Parliament for the award, calling for a minute’s silence to honour “the thousands of victims” of the war. The President stressed the importance of accountability, calling “without waiting for the end of the war”, for the establishment of an international tribunal “to bring to justice all those who started the war and to prevent any repetition of the aggression”.
Present in Strasbourg, Oleksandra Matviytchouk, a human rights lawyer and president of the Center for Civil Liberties, called, beyond justice, for sanctions against Russia for crippling its economy and for additional modern weapons for Ukraine.
“We must unite within the country and fight as one Ukrainian people. Let us all remain united, together we can overcome and limit the losses”, pleaded Yuliia Paievska, founder of the medical evacuation unit Angels of Taira. The mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Federov, called on Europeans to stand by the Ukrainians. “When we win, we will win together, hand in hand. If we lose, we will lose together, because the Ukrainian defence defends our values first and foremost”, he recalled. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)