Visit of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, to Estonia

This morning, representatives of the Association, together with representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora and with the participation of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Estonia took part in events at the Riigikogu (the Parliament of Estonia) dedicated to the official visit to Estonia of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk!

In particular, they joined the parliamentary session, which began with an address by the Speaker of Ukraine’s Parliament!

Ruslan Stefanchuk began his speech in Estonian and thanked the Estonian people, the President and the Government for their strong and steadfast support of Ukraine in all areas, as well as the Parliament of Estonia for adopting very important statements and decisions, in particular on providing Ukraine with packages of financial, humanitarian and defence aid!

“The Riigikogu is the blood of Estonian democracy; this heart fills the oxygen of freedom with patriotism and solidarity — it is here that the glorious past of the Estonian nation is preserved, it is here that plans for the happy future of the Estonian people are drawn… I want to thank you for always being by our side. I well remember the historic visit to Kyiv two days before the full-scale invasion by the President of Estonia, Alar Karis. Back then, on 22 February 2022, he said these words: we stand in solidarity with Ukraine, we will not flee anywhere and we will continue to support you in every possible way. And you did not turn away, you did not flee, and you do not stop helping even today. A bow and applause to all of you and to all Estonians!” said Ruslan Stefanchuk.

From Estonia’s parliamentary rostrum, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine presented and called for support of Ukraine’s Victory Plan! Ruslan Stefanchuk also asked the parliamentarians for assistance in lifting any restrictions on the provision and use by Ukraine of long-range weapons to strike military installations and targets on the territory of the rf!

After the address from the parliamentary rostrum, an exhibition of Ukrainian dress took place with the participation of the Speaker of the Riigikogu, Lauri Hussar, who once again stressed that Estonia sees it as its duty to support Ukraine as much as possible and until Victory itself!

The community took up the singing of Ruslan Trochynskyi, and everyone together with Ruslan Stefanchuk sang “Oi u luzi chervona kalyna…”

At the close of the meeting with the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, staff of the Mission of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi in Crimea (Yevhen Bondarenko) gave a tour of the already running exhibition “Qirim içün / For Crimea”, dedicated to the difficult historical path of one of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine — the Crimean Tatars! The wife of the US Ambassador to Estonia, Velida Kitaina, who has Crimean Tatar roots, joined the exhibition.

At the end of his visit to the Riigikogu, Ruslan Stefanchuk thanked the entire Ukrainian community for preserving its cultural and linguistic identity, for helping their homeland, and expressed the hope that Ukrainians will nonetheless return home to build a strong and prosperous country!