Czech Senate Speaker Milos Vystrcil arrived in Kyiv today to take part in the fourth meeting of the Crimea Platform, which aims to bring together and coordinate all existing national and international efforts to end the Russian occupation of the Crimean Peninsula.
“Developments since the annexation of Crimea have shown us that if our support is insufficient, Russia will not stop,” said Vystrcil. “We must also bear in mind that peace negotiations cannot take place without Ukraine’s participation, and the results of the negotiations must be acceptable to Ukraine.”
Vystrcil said that he had represented the Czech Republic at the inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform in Kyiv in August 2021, where he declared that “we must stand up for Ukraine”. He also supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine by visiting the Crimean administrative border in the Kherson region.
In Ukraine, Vystrcil will also pay tribute to the victims of forced deportations by the totalitarian Soviet regime.
He previously visited Kyiv last November, when he paid tribute to the victims of the famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933, on the occasion of its 90th anniversary.
The second summit of the Crimea Platform at parliamentary level was held in Prague in October 2023.
The Crimea Platform was created in the summer of 2021 on the initiative of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. It brings together approximately 70 countries and international organisations.
