Youth Fellows Stand With Ukraine

We, the Youth Fellows of the International Youth Think Tank (IYTT) express our strongest condemnation of the unlawful Russian military assault on Ukraine that started on 24 February 2022. This was the day when the future of Europe changed forever.

Soldiers on both sides have been slaughtered by the thousands. Ukrainian civilians, men, women and children, are killed in their own homes, or forced to flee from their country. The Russian governments’ pretext for these atrocities is the false and hollow claim to “help the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics by denazification and demilitarisation of Ukraine”. Whether the bloodshed is motivated by an imperialist desire to lay claim to all the Russian-speaking world, or if it is just an attempt by Vladimir Putin to reassert his failing hold over the people of Russia through a show of strength, we do not know. What we do know is that these acts show nothing but weakness, cowardice, and cruelty.

Not only is the blood of Ukrainians and Russians being spilled needlessly, but any remaining goodwill of Russian democracy is also being eliminated. Through large-scale brainwashing, a stream of lies and euphemisms, the Russian government tries to justify the war. However, there is no way to justify these deaths, the suffering, the people hiding in shelters, the cities being bombed, and the villages turned to dust.

Furthermore, we condemn the undemocratic and totalitarian measures that are being imposed on the Russian people. Citizens are deprived of their dignity and right to peaceful protest, more than 7000 people have been detained, and the numbers are rising daily. Any support of the Ukrainian people, especially financial, is considered high treason with punishments of up to 15 years in jail. Truth is outlawed, censorship is enforced harder than ever, and independent media are closed down. Even a simple “reposting” of information, that go against the reports issued by the government, may result in imprisonment.

We call on the immediate withdrawal of all Russian military forces from the Ukrainian territory internationally recognized. The state of Ukraine has to be saved, or the principles of sovereignty, democracy and liberty will have been obliterated.

We stand with Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, and the great many Russians who do not support this cruel war.

Victoria Portnaya (Ukrainian)
Valeria Lavrentyeva (Russian)
Larissa Möckel (German)
Joana Baptista (British-Portuguese)
Lukas Kolloge (German)
Francesco Bortoletto (Italian)
Daniel Hakan Urquijo (Spanish)
Michele Castrezzati (Italian)
Emma Sougli (Greek)
Fermin Lecanda (Spanish)
Lina Arvidsson (Swedish)
Francisco Jose Lopez Velez (Colombian-Italian)
Lisa Mastiaux (German)
Wilma Johansson (Swedish)
Julia Strandquist (Swedish)
Alina Koch (German)
Tobiasz Burzynski (Polish)
Mathes Rausch (German)
Petter Rodebjer (Swedish)
Elena Vocale (Italian)
Helena Back (German)
Persiana Aksentieva (Bulgarian)
Ivan Escobar Fernández (Spanish)
Joshua Bloodworth (British)
Joshua Steib (German)
José Miguel Rojo Martinez (Spanish)
Fabian Wiek (German)
Franklin Vaci (British)
Ergys Brocaj (Belgian)
Raya Aksentieva (Bulgarian)
Lisa Lundgren (Swedish)
Johannes Kuhlmann (German)
Kayla Mae Garcia Fernandes (British-Portuguese)
Rui Nunes e Sousa (Portuguese)
Juan Antonio Perez Lopez (Spanish)
Paula Gehrs (German)
Seven Jacobs (British)
Sophia, Badhan (British)
Hardev Grewal (British)
Sara Barbaglia (Italian)