As Ukraine marks its Independence Day on Saturday 24 August, 32 years after the nation broke free from the Soviet Union, we stand at a vital juncture within the battle for freedom and justice, not only for our nation however for Europe and the complete world.
Svitlana Romanko is Founder and Government Director of Razom We Stand.
For over a decade, Ukraine has been weathering the storm of an unprovoked and brutal invasion by Russia. Our cities have been diminished to rubble, our civilians terrorised, and our sovereignty relentlessly attacked. But the combat for Ukraine’s independence is not only a nationwide battle—it’s a name for international solidarity and motion.
Final month, a brand new sequence of missile assaults by Russia focused Ukraine, together with a strike on the Ohmatdyt Kids’s Hospital, the most important pediatric centre within the nation. The devastating scenes of younger kids receiving IV therapy exterior whereas the hospital was evacuated must be a stark reminder to the world.
This assault alone resulted within the deaths of at the least 36 people and injured over 140 extra. The price of this atrocity was estimated at $200-250 million, roughly equal to what Russia earns in a single day from its crude oil exports.
Russia’s unprecedented oil and gasoline revenues are fueling acts of violence and aggression like this. Each penny spent on Russian fossil fuels funds the bombs, bullets, and brutality endured every day by harmless Ukrainians. Putin is reinforcing his aggressive and expansionist agenda by channelling oil revenues into his conflict chest.
As Ukrainians confront this terror with sorrow and grim dedication, we name on the world to take decisive motion: Ban Russian fossil fuels now.
The worldwide neighborhood should deal with the basis of this disaster—our collective dependancy to grease, which funds Putin’s regime and his terror campaigns. Inspired by impunity and fueled by the continued move of Western money regardless of sanctions, Putin’s marketing campaign of terror in opposition to Ukraine and the West continues to escalate.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has amassed over €700 billion in revenues from the sale of crude oil, pipeline gasoline, and LNG. Regardless of the sanctions imposed by the EU, G7, and UK, Russia exploits loopholes to maintain its conflict chest stuffed.
Russia receives over €270 million every day from crude oil exports alone and round €600 million from all fossil fuels mixed. These revenues fund half of Russia’s federal finances, which this yr has a document allocation for the navy, unprecedented since Soviet instances.
Russia’s important Liquified Pure Gasoline (LNG) tasks, usually described as ‘carbon bombs,’ have considerably worsened local weather change-related disruption, which has value the EU over €650 billion since 1980.
Regardless of these challenges, there may be hope. The conflict in Ukraine has galvanised international efforts in the direction of power independence and sustainability. Europe ended the final winter with document ranges of fossil gasoline in storage, a testomony to the growing success of cheaper renewable power manufacturing.
Renewable power sources have emerged as less expensive and reliable than fossil fuels. They provide an answer to quite a few points linked with fossil fuels, reminiscent of supporting authoritarian regimes, exacerbating desertification and famine, harming well being, and fueling inflation. The strides made by Ukraine and different nations in adopting strong renewable power options are spectacular and will function a mannequin for others.
Eliminating Russian fossil fuels from the worldwide power panorama is essential not simply to undermine Putin’s navy actions, but in addition for advancing power safety and reaching the decarbonisation essential to curb local weather change.
The conflict on Ukraine has not paused, and neither can worldwide politics. To defund and disarm Russia’s conflict on Ukraine, the world should first reduce off the money cow of Russian fossil fuels.
As we replicate on our nation’s resilience and the immense worth we’ve paid for our freedom this Independence Day, we urge the worldwide neighborhood to face with Ukraine. The continued combat for our independence is not only ours – it’s a worldwide combat for the ideas of sovereignty, democracy, and human rights. We name on the world to make the tough however mandatory selections.
The transition away from Russian fossil fuels is a problem, however the price of inaction is way better, and success is on the horizon. The world should act now, or extra Ukrainian lives shall be misplaced, and the very ideas of worldwide regulation and human rights shall be eroded.
Let this be the day that the world decides to face agency in opposition to tyranny, to sever the monetary lifeline sustaining Russia’s conflict machine, and to point out that the combat for freedom is actually a world accountability.