Polish President Andrzej Duda has said that the international community, by acting together, can stop the Russian invasion and hold Russia accountable for the war crimes it has committed.
Speaking at Tuesday’s summit of Visegrad Group (V4) countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia) in Bratislava, Duda said that Russian domination cannot “spread again in our part of Europe.”
“I believe that we will stop the war by the fact that Ukraine, with the support of the international community, will simply push the attackers beyond its internationally recognised borders and gain control over all its territory, which was partially lost in 2014 as a result of the first Russian attack,” he added.
Duda also referred to a joint statement by the Bucharest Nine group of Nato’s eastern flank countries as well as from North Macedonia and Montenegro released earlier in the day. The statement condemned “the mass bombardments of Ukrainian cities carried out by Russia” this week, saying the strikes were war crimes under international law.
“I firmly believe that the international community will not forgive this and will pursue war criminals until they are successfully convicted,” Duda told the V4 summit.
“This is today the imperative of the times and the imperative of the present day, it cannot be that international law is violated with impunity,” he said. “The perpetrators of these crimes must be punished and I believe that we will achieve this.”
Zatrzymamy wojnę poprzez to, że Ukraina – przy wsparciu wspólnoty międzynarodowej, także naszym – wyprze napastników poza swoje uznane międzynarodowe granice i odzyska kontrolę nad pełnią swojego terytorium.
Spotkanie Prezydentów Grupy Wyszehradzkiej w #Bratysława. pic.twitter.com/VNAtVulIMI
— Kancelaria Prezydenta (@prezydentpl) October 11, 2022