Russia's unprofessed military aggression against Ukraine: Tirana Summit Declaration Joins Vuciq

After the end of this summit, all leaders who have attended -- including Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Northern Macedonia's Stevo Pendarovski, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Montenegro's Jakov Milatovic -- have issued a joint communique.

Full communication:

We, President Vjosa Osmani, President Maya Sandu, President Jakov Milatovovic, President Stevo Pendarovski, President Aleksandar Vuciq, President Voldymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Edi Rama, Council of Ministers Chairman Borjana Christo, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi), Prime Minister Ion-Marcel Ciolacu met in Tirana on 28 February 2024 and issued the following statement:

Russia's unprotested military aggression against Ukraine remains the biggest threat to European security and international peace. This act of aggression is unacceptable; it is a flagrant violation of international law, including the UN Charter, and a crime against the Ukrainian people.

We reiterated our firm support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders since 1991 and remain committed to providing Ukraine with the necessary support to prevail against the fight of Russian aggression as long as it takes to achieve a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace in line with the UN Charter and on the basis of the Ukrainian Peace Forum.

We call on the entire international community to strongly increase support for Ukraine in its ongoing struggle for freedom, independence and territorial integrity.

We strongly condemn the Russian Federation's intentions to hold presidential elections in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories, which represents an open violation of international law. We stress the illegal nature of the upcoming elections in the Autonomous Republic of Crime and the town of Sevastopoli and in Russia's territories occupied by Donnetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizeya and Kherson regions of Ukraine.

During today's discussions in Tirana, we reconfirmed our solidarity with Ukraine and its people in their heroic defense of their freedom and our common values and expressed our willingness to participate in the implementation of the Ukrainian President Volodyyr Zelensky Peace Forum, which is in line with the objectives and principles of the UN Charter and participate in the inaugural Peace Summit, ensuring the wider international participation in the process.

We are convinced that the full-scale battle of Russia's aggression against Ukraine has shown the critical need and essential importance of a united and strong Europe capable of facing global challenges to the peace and prosperity of our peoples. We stressed that they unite us with common European values and their vision of further development within a united Europe.

We reaffirmed our commitment to intensify joint efforts to ensure further progress and mutual support towards the membership of the Western Balkan region, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia in the European Union.

We fully support Ukraine's right to choose its security measures. NATO allies and aspiring countries praise the steps taken towards its future NATO membership and support Ukraine to become a member of the Alliance once it allows security conditions.

We highlighted our firm commitment to bring to justice those individuals responsible for the crime of aggression, crimes against humanity and other atrocities committed under international law committed in connection with the fight of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, through proper investigations and prosecutions, rights and independent at the national or international level, including the work of Ukraine's Attorney General Office and the International Criminal Court to ensure that war crimes claims and other international crimes are fully investigated and fairly investigated by independent, effective and legal mechanisms.

We agreed to co-operate and focus our efforts on the return of Ukrainian children expelled and forcibly displaced and illegally.

We pledge to increase our co-operative efforts to fight deinformation, including the false Narratites about the war, and to remain committed to fighting the hybrid war and cyber security challenges, contributing to the stability and security of the international community.

Today in Tirana, we reaffirmed our solidarity and support for Ukraine, expressed our commitment to participate in the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, so that we can help Ukrainian people rebuild their country, by engaging all their respective partners, including private and international companies. Financial institutions, with the aim of providing financial support, investments and knowledge needed to ensure a prosperous future for Ukraine. We underline the importance of demining in the wider context of Ukraine's recovery, as an important initial step towards people's safe return and resume economic and agricultural activity.

We, friends of Ukraine, confirm our strong belief that only by joining will we be able to restore the right peace, stability and prosperity on the European continent.