Declaration of the third summit “Ukraine – South-Eastern Europe”

Summit “Ukraine – Southeast Europe”

Dubrovnik declaration

We, Prime Minister Andrei Plenkovich and President Volodymyr Zelenskyi as the host parties, as well as President Vyosa Osmani, President Yakov Milatovych, President Aleksandar Vucic, President Natasha Pirts Musar, Prime Minister Edi Rama, Chairman of the Council of Ministers Borjana Kryshto, Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister Hristian Mickoski, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Mihai Popshoi, Minister of Foreign Affairs Luminica-Teodora Odobescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Affairs Hakan Fidan, as well as Vice President of the European Commission Dubravka Shuyka, met on October 9, 2024 in DubrovnikCroatia, for the third time in the format summit “Ukraine – South-Eastern Europe”.

Our work today is based on the discussions and conclusions of the first and second summits “Ukraine – Southeast Europe”, which took place in AthensGreece, August 21, 2023, and TyrantsAlbania, February 28, 2024, respectively.

Today, as participants of the Dubrovnik Summit, we adopt the following declaration:

Almost 1,000 days have passed since the start of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. We strongly condemn this unprovoked, unjustified and illegal Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Russia’s aggressive war is a crime against the Ukrainian people, a gross violation of international law, including the UN Charter, as well as a great threat to the peace, security and stability of Southeast Europe, the entire European continent and the world in general.

Our support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders remains absolute. We confirm our unwavering readiness to continue to provide comprehensive support to Ukraine and its people for as long as necessary.

We express our respect and sympathy to the Ukrainian people, who since 2014 have courageously, with endurance and heroism resisted Russian armed aggression.

Based on the Joint Declaration of the first parliamentary summit of the international Crimea platform, adopted in Zagreb on October 25, 2022, and the results of the fourth summit of the international Crimea platform, which took place in Kyiv on September 11, 2024, we emphasize our unwavering commitment to the restoration of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including with Crimea, by further providing comprehensive assistance to Ukraine to counter Russian aggression.

We fully support the results of the Summit on Peace in Ukraine held in Switzerland in June 2024. The path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine can only be based on international law, including the UN Charter. In this regard, we confirm our support for the Ukrainian peace formula of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, as a necessary basis for the restoration of such peace. We express our support for Ukraine’s efforts in this direction and emphasize our readiness to actively participate in the implementation of the points of the Peace Formula.

We call on the entire international community, which is making efforts to restore international peace and security at the global level, to strengthen support for Ukraine in its ongoing struggle for freedom, independence and territorial integrity. At the same time, we call on all countries not to provide material or other support to Russia’s war of aggression. We emphasized the importance of consistency with the decisions and measures of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union.

We emphasize that any form of aggression against a sovereign state is unacceptable. All countries must refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity, sovereignty or political independence of any state. In this context, we emphasize that the withdrawal of Russian troops and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine, the cessation of hostilities and the restoration of full control of Ukraine over its state borders are non-negotiable conditions for the restoration of peace.

We strongly condemn any attempts by Russia to forcibly and illegally annex parts of the territory of Ukraine. Such attempts are a gross violation of international law, including the UN Charter, as well as the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia regions are integral parts of Ukraine. In this context, we consider the so-called elections held by Russia in March and September 2024 on the territory of Ukraine to be worthless.

We confirm our strong readiness to intensify joint efforts to ensure further promotion and mutual support of partners in South-Eastern Europe, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia on their path to EU membership based on meeting the criteria achieved. The accession of these new members to the European Union is the best guarantee of regional stability, security and prosperity. We welcome the opening of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine, as well as with Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Moldova.

We welcome the fact that at the Washington NATO Summit, the Allies reaffirmed their commitment to continue supporting Ukraine on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.

We once again emphasize our firm determination to bring to justice those persons who are responsible for the crime of aggression, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine.

We note Ukraine’s ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as an important step towards bringing to justice the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, and emphasize the importance of ensuring the court’s ability to fully exercise its jurisdiction.

We agree to continue cooperation and focus our efforts on the release of all prisoners of war, illegally detained persons and the return of all illegally deported and forcibly displaced Ukrainians, especially children.

We agree that the topics of food security and demining intersect and mutually reinforce each other. In accordance with the conclusions of the International Conference of Donors on Humanitarian Demining in Ukraine, which took place in Zagreb on October 11-12, 2023, we discussed demining in the context of the reconstruction of Ukraine as a crucial first step towards rapid return of people and renewal of economic and agricultural activity. Food security should not be used as a weapon. Ukrainian agricultural products must be delivered safely and freely to interested countries. In this context, free, full and safe commercial navigation in accordance with international law, as well as access to seaports in the Black and Azov Seas, are critical. Attacks on merchant ships in ports and along the entire follow-up route, as well as on civilian ports and civilian port infrastructure, are inadmissible.

We emphasize the critical importance of Ukraine’s energy security, especially given the approach of winter. Ukrainian power plants and energy infrastructure continue to suffer massive damage as a result of Russia’s systematic and deliberate attacks. Today, we considered opportunities to intensify our efforts, including further active engagement of the private sector, to provide Ukraine with the equipment and funding necessary for mitigation. We also emphasize the need for greater coordination and planning at the regional level, as well as the creation of effective electrical interconnectors to mitigate the negative effects of damage caused by Russian attacks.

We also emphasize that any use of nuclear energy and nuclear facilities must be safe, secure, guaranteed and environmentally friendly. In this context, we emphasize that the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant must return to the full sovereign control of Ukraine and operate safely and reliably in accordance with the IAEA’s seven fundamental principles and five specific principles, as well as under its supervision.

We express our willingness to continue to participate in the ongoing and post-war recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine in order to enable the Ukrainian people to rebuild their country, involving all relevant partners, including private companies and international financial institutions, in order to provide financial support, investment and expertise , necessary to ensure a prosperous future of Ukraine.

There cannot be a free, peaceful and prosperous Europe without a free, peaceful and prosperous Ukraine. The commitment of the participants of the “Ukraine – Southeast Europe” summit in Dubrovnik to this goal remains unbroken.