NZ can’t ‘stay on sidelines’
Ukrainian Kiwi urges country to step up response
Ukrainian New Zealanders have directly addressed the Prime Minister, urging her to step up the country’s response to Russia’s invasion of their homeland and the escalating humanitarian crisis.
Yesterday, Jacinda Ardern unveiled an artwork at Parliament donated by New Zealand’s Ukrainian community as a display of “support and solidarity for Ukraine”.
It follows the Ukrainian flag being flown above Parliament and landmarks across the country lit up in blue and yellow.
Ukrainian New Zealander Andriy Legenkyy told the audience, which consisted of cross-party representatives, that New Zealand must step up its response.
“Like many Ukrainian New Zealanders here . . . I want to pay gratitude to New Zealand and those who have supported us. But the country and people of Ukraine need it even more. As Ukraine fights for freedom and a democratic society our people have built over the last decades ... New Zealand cannot remain on the sidelines.
“Please do not just pray for Ukraine and shine our colours on your landmarks. You must lead by example and take steps that will make
Please do not just pray for Ukraine and shine our colours on your landmarks. Ukrainian New Zealander Andriy Legenkyy
a huge difference.”
New Zealand has banned exports linked to the Russian military, imposed travel bans on certain individuals and provided aid.
However, it has come under global scrutiny for its inability to apply wider economic sanctions due to a lack of an autonomous sanctions regime. Currently, sanctions are guided by United Nations resolutions, but Russia has a veto as a permanent member of the Security Council.
Legenkyy said New Zealand needed to join the international community in applying “swift and severe” sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Government and the oligarchs who “prop him up”. Here that included freezing assets of Russian companies, oligarchs and their families in New Zealand.
Legenkyy also called for more humanitarian aid and an Ukrainespecific refugee quota.
“Ukraine is fighting not just for its existence but the future of free and liberal society, democratic principles, peaceful world order. Ukraine is fighting for all of us. It fights for you.”
All parties have so far condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ardern said she hoped that unity would continue in passing legislation that would allow the Government to “move quickly and allow us to go further with sanctions against Russia
and all those connected to this invasion. Parties have been working closely on it so I hope to see the same level of unity in that response in Parliament”.
Ardern said it was devastating to learn those in Ukraine with family in Russia who “simply don’t believe what’s happening to them”.
The artwork unveiled depicts a map of New Zealand, embroidered in traditional Ukrainian designs, and was made and gifted to Parliament by New Zealand’s Ukrainian community in 2016. Speaker Trevor Mallard said that after acknowledging the Ukrainian community by opening the Parliament with a Ukrainian language prayer last week, this artwork was a continuing display of support and solidarity for Ukraine.
He added: “It is an attack on the core part of democracy”.