Dubrovnik Declaration summarizes the strong political will of the countries of this part of Europe to help Ukraine

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held a joint press conference as part of the Ukraine - Southeastern Europe Summit in Dubrovnik. On that occasion, Plenković expressed his satisfaction that Croatia was the host of this event, repeating that Croatian support for Ukraine will be strong and steady in the future as well, and the joint declaration, which was accepted today, the Prime Minister said, summarizes the strong political will of the countries of this part of Europe.

PM Plenković and President Zelensky are co-hosts of the summit, which is attended by high-ranking officials from twelve countries in the region.
 
The summit in Dubrovnik is the third summit in this format, after the first was held in August 2022 in Athens, and the second in February 2024 in Tirana.
 
The main goal of the meeting is to express the support of the countries of Southeast Europe to Ukraine, which has been facing Russian aggression for two and a half years.
 
"I am very pleased that today Croatia hosted a bilateral meeting with President Zelensky and a summit of the countries of Southeast Europe and Ukraine, the third summit of its kind. For the first time, the summit of Ukraine and Southeast Europe took place with the presence of all participating countries of this format. After I visited Kiev at the beginning of September, I am glad that in less than a month we are together again, this time in Dubrovnik, and that today at our meeting we discussed the relations between Croatia and Ukraine, we reiterated our strong support for Ukraine, a victim of the Russian aggression for almost a thousand days. At the same time, we evoked the strong support that we have been providing in the past period in political, diplomatic, economic, energy, humanitarian and military terms," ​​said Plenković at the press conference.
 
He added that this support will be strong and constant in the future as well, and that it is a reflection of Croatian-Ukrainian friendship, a friendship with a nation close to us and a country that was among the first to recognize Croatia internationally.
 
We bring unique Croatian experiences to Ukraine
 
After the bilateral meeting, and prior to the summit, Plenković and Zelensky signed the Agreement on long-term cooperation and support between Croatia and Ukraine, which will formalize the already existing cooperation between the two countries, especially in the field of humanitarian aid, demining and prosecution of war crimes.
 
The Agreement, Plenković pointed out, includes all important aspects of concrete support for Ukraine, and this with regard to the specific experiences that Croatia, unlike many other countries, unfortunately has, which are post-war experiences related to demining, support to war veterans and the prosecution of war crimes.
 
He pointed out that they also signed a strong support that Ukraine, like other European countries, can choose its own path, its international positioning, continuously on the earlier declaration that was signed before the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
 
"That was in December 2021, when we gave Ukraine strong support on the way to the European Union, and we are glad that in the meantime Ukraine has applied for membership, received candidate status and the decision to open negotiations," said the Prime Minister, adding that in years marked by Russian aggression against Ukraine, this is the third summit in Croatia on a political level dedicated to Ukraine.
 
Strong political support for Ukraine
 
Plenković emphasized that Croatia supports Ukraine's territorial integrity, mentioning our experience from the second half of the 90s, when Croatia peacefully reintegrated the then only remaining occupied area, the Croatian Danube Region, through a United Nations operation.
 
"I am sure that this meeting, as part of the broader international efforts made by President Zelensky, will represent additional support of both declaratory and operational nature from all participants. I am glad that Croatia hosted such a successful and high-quality summit", said Plenković.
 
At today's summit, the Dubrovnik declaration was accepted, which summarizes the strong political will of the countries of this part of Europe, each of which supports Ukraine in its own way, PM Plenković said.
 
Zelensky thanked Prime Minister Plenković for his support
 
The conclusion of the joint declaration is that there is no free and peaceful Europe without a free and peaceful Ukraine, and president Zelensky expressed his satisfaction because all the countries present showed their support, pointing out that this is a message from all countries that stand for a just peace, not for freezing the situation.
 
"Ukraine wants a just peace, and it doesn't matter if Putin agrees with that. It is important to strengthen Ukraine in order to have a better position at the future peace summit,'' Zelenski pointed out.
 
President Zelensky thanked Prime Minister Plenković for the support that Croatia provides to Ukraine, saying that today's meeting, for the third time in this format, means a lot for Ukraine.
 
"Thank you, Andrej, for this organization, for your hospitality, for receiving so warmly our injured soldiers and our citizens who were exiled from Ukraine. All of you here today are trying to end this war in a just way, and that is extremely important for us, and we value the relations between our countries," Zelensky said.

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