Ukraine invites nations across Africa, South America, and Asia to join a global justice alliance

On November 17–18, the third international conference Crimea Global: Understanding Ukraine through the South brought together Ukrainian and international experts, journalists, human rights defenders, and cultural figures. Despite the ongoing war and daily attacks, Ukraine continues to speak to the world about justice, postcolonialism, freedom of expression, and collective resistance to authoritarianism.

The conference featured seven panel discussions, field visits to Lviv and Kharkiv, and the commemorative art event “Memoria Orbis: Memory Sustains the World.” Participants explored issues including the documentation of war crimes, information security, global food stability, women’s leadership, decolonization, and Russia’s recruitment practices abroad. 

Speaking at the opening of the Crimea Global conference, Iryna Mudra, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, warned that Russia’s tactics in Ukraine echo patterns of aggression and manipulation across the Global South, and invited nations to help build a new international legal order.

ZMINA publishes her speech in full.

Distinguished representatives of states, our partners, friends, colleagues,

My speech today is not about the war between Ukraine and Russia. I want to address the community of states that know all too well what external intervention means and what the struggle for freedom costs. I am speaking to those who understand not from textbooks but from their own experience the price of peace, freedom, and justice.

Across many parts of the world, including Africa and Asia, we see a recurring strategy of influence through military aggression, informational, economic, and political means. We see attempts to destabilize societies, bribe officials, spread disinformation, and exert economic pressure. In Africa, this includes military expansion through private armed groups and crimes committed in Central Africa.

Young Africans are being lured to Russia through deception. They are promised contracts or education, yet in reality, they are sent to assemble combat drones or to Russia’s war in Ukraine. This is a form of modern-day enslavement. These are real criminal cases that are being investigated in Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda. 

In South America, we observe hybrid influence operations, efforts to undermine trust in democratic institutions, disinformation campaigns, election interference, and the promotion of authoritarian models. RT en Español is only the visible part of a much larger network.

We recall how Russia used humanitarian influence to put pressure on Ecuador and how it helped sustain dictatorships that destabilized entire regions, which proved problematic for the whole region.

In Asia, we see technological blackmail, security dependencies, and attempts to hamper the development of institutions. These are not isolated incidents. They represent a systemic global strategy, of which the war in Ukraine is merely one manifestation.

I want to reaffirm that Russia’s war began with Crimea. The 2014 annexation of Crimea wasn’t a separate episode or a local crisis. It was the first attempt to change the borders in Europe after World War II.

Russia used the same methods that we see in various parts of the world: military intervention under the guise of the “little green men,” sham referendums, repression, sweeping disinformation, and persecution of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians. Crimea became a testing ground for Russian imperial policy. Had the world provided a collective response back then, the full-scale war might not have happened.

That’s why restoring justice in Crimea is not only about Ukraine. It is about restoring international law for all and addressing the root cause of this war.

The justice we seek to build is not a Ukrainian interest — it is a universal principle. We are creating mechanisms that can serve anyone who has suffered losses due to this war on our territory.

The Register of Damage for Ukraine already records claims not only from Ukrainian citizens, but also from citizens of other countries. The compensation mechanism will enable reimbursement of losses, including accommodation, business expenses, and lost income.

The Special Tribunal on the Crime of Aggression is a tool of justice aimed at Russia’s top leadership. We sincerely invite countries of Africa, South America, and Asia to join this process not as observers but as co-creators of a new era in international law. Together, we replace the logic of fear with the logic of accountability.

This is about the freedom of every nation to live without coercion — and about ensuring consequences for anyone who violates that principle. We want a world in which a Ukrainian farmer, an African student, a Brazilian business owner, and Filipino teachers know that truth matters because it is safeguarded by institutions and that there are people behind this.

We are inviting you to become part of the alliance of justice. Not because Ukraine seeks help, but because we believe in the power of unity. A new legal order cannot emerge on its own. It is created by those who refuse to accept impunity.

Together, we are strong. Together, we will change history.

Thank you sincerely.

Slava Ukraini — Glory to Ukraine.

English-language support: ZMINA volunteer Lisa DeHaven