Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias, who is on an official visit to Kyiv, was received by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before meeting with Ukrainian FM Dmytro Kuleba and holding a joint press conference on Wednesday.
During his meeting with Zelensky, Dendias “stressed that Greece remains resolute in its unwavering solidarity with Ukraine & fully condemns any attempts at changing borders by revisionist forces,” he said in a tweet.
Following his meeting with Kuleba, Dendias told the Ukrainian FM during joint statements after their meeting that Greece condemned Russia’s invasion in Ukraine from its onset, and does not recognise the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories.
Greeks, he underlined, have a good grasp of the Ukrainian predicament “because we too have a neighbor in the East, one who has issued a threat of war, a casus belli against us.” This neighbor, he added, “calls for the demilitarization of our territory, while amassing large military forces just across from our borders.”
Ukraine’s victory, he said, would signify a victory of International Law against brutal violence; this, he said, applies to anyone who replicates Russia’s arguments in its attempt to subjugate Ukraine.
Dendias called his visit to Kyiv a symbolic one, as he is there to express the full solidarity of the Greek government and Greek people towards the Ukrainian government and the people of Ukraine. The Greek minister also registered his shock by what he saw in Kyiv on Wednesday, a large city coming under attack, and the death of civilians – namely of non-military targets, which he said that according to International Law this constitutes a war crime.
This is Dendias’ third visit to Ukraine since the war started in February, twice to Odessa and once to Mariupol, cities where Greeks have historically had a strong presence, he noted.
Greece is strongly committed to accountability for war crimes, he stressed, and he recalled sending a pertinent letter to the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, around the time he visited The Hague earlier this year: “We will never forget the crimes committed in Mariupol,” he pointed out.
Moreover, the Greek FM said Greece fully supports the European Commission’s decision to grant Ukraine the candidacy for EU accession, while it has offered the port of Alexandroupolis in northern Greece to allies as a hub for sending help to Ukraine.
SOURCE; ANA-MPA
