It is a horrific thing that Russia's attack against Ukraine, which is a violation of international law, brought back five weeks ago the plague of war into Europe. In Mariupol, a city about the same distance from Belgrade as from Berlin, a great many more than 100,000 civilians are still surrounded, with children, women, and the elderly among them. They have been subsisting without electricity, without water, and without heating, in a city on which Russian bombs, missiles, and shells have been raining down ceaselessly. Mariupol has almost been razed. It appears that Russia has decided to conquer the city or destroy it, no matter what the human cost might be. News of bombing exclusively civilian targets have been pouring in from a great many other Ukrainian cities.
Over 10 million people have already had to flee the country. We must not and shall not for a single moment lose sight of the position all those people are in. I know that the solidarity with the Ukrainian people is as strong in Serbia as it is in Germany.
There must be an immediate cessation of the hostilities, as specified in the demand made by 140 nations in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution dated 24 March this year. The most important thing now is to open safe corridors for voluntary evacuation of the civilian population and delivery of humanitarian aid for those people who are unable to leave or wish to stay.
We hope that the talks between Ukraine and Russia will make progress swiftly. However, a question is raised as to whether Russia is truly willing to achieve piece given that it keeps bombing hospitals and apartment buildings at the same time.
The population of Ukraine has demonstrated extraordinary courage, as have many of Russia's and Belarus' citizens who take to the streets or refuse to serve in the army, knowing full well that they risk their own freedom and safety. Russia has been waging this war not only by tanks, bombs, and missiles, but also by a disgraceful campaign of spreading disinformation. Moreover, the Kremlin's propaganda machine is doing everything to justify this atrocious war. The Russian media outlets openly spread lies with the aim of making people believe that Ukraine is also to blame for this war.
The allegations that Ukraine attacks its own territories and persecutes its own people are a grotesque warping of the reality. The insinuations that Ukraine is committing genocide have been unambiguously disproven by independent Russian media outlets as well. Innumerable reports on the state of human rights in Ukraine, published regularly by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the reports by the OECD, have debunked these allegations as false.
Moscow's claim that the incumbent Ukrainian government has been infiltrated by Neo-Nazis, and that it is supported by the German Neo-Nazis is downright absurd and baseless. Since 2019, there have been no radical right-wing political parties in the Ukrainian parliament. In point of fact, "liberation from Neo-Nazism" is an especially malicious lie aimed at overthrowing a democratically elected government and imposing on Ukraine a pro-Kremlin government. Labelling President Volodymyr Zelensky, who happens to be of Jewish descent, as a Neo-Nazi is especially grotesque.
What can an individual do? There are various options out there to provide assistance and express solidarity with the people in Ukraine, e.g. by donations and peace demonstrations organized in many cities, including Belgrade and Novi Sad. More than anything else, all of us can contribute by not buying into the Russian propaganda that does everything in its power to justify the war against Ukraine, which is actually a gross violation of international law. Therefore, I would like to suggest the following to you: Do not become a victim of a unilateral reporting orchestrated by Russia. Critically assess every bit of information. Use independent sources when you encounter contradictory reports, because one thing is clear: the truth is always the first victim of war.
By Thomas Schieb, Ambassador of Germany to Serbia