U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine on Tuesday and reiterated support for Ukraine.
“Deaths, displacements and destruction continue. In the last two weeks alone, Putin has launched a further campaign of horror, unleashing swarms of drones against cities, visible from the streets, designed to terrify and to kill,” Ms Pelosi told delegations of parliamentary members attending the Crimea Summit.
“The [U.S.] Congress condemns the actions of Iran in supplying these kamikaze drones,” she added.
But Iran has washed its hands of the issue of providing Russia with drones for use in Ukraine.
On Monday Iran’s foreign minister stated that Iran would not remain indifferent if proven that its drones were in fact being used by Russia in the Ukraine war.
Ms Pelosi turned to Russia next, accusing its regime of war crimes in Ukraine.
“Using rape, kidnapping, and other atrocities – kidnapping of children as a weapon of war is outside the circle of civilized human behaviour. Attacking civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Putin’s latest attack is to escalate a war that he began and that he is losing,” Ms Pelosi stressed.
The U.S. House of Representatives Speaker has been confidently voicing the need to support Ukraine by providing the country with aid and military assistance since Russia’s unjustified heinous attack on February 24, in what Russia calls a “special military operation.”
The second Crimea Platform summit attended by Ms Pelosi and held in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, gathered Ukrainian government officials and external experts for talks on Crimea’s reintegration following Moscow’s annexation of the Eastern European peninsula from Ukraine back in 2014.
This year’s edition of the summit took on a parliamentarian format. Participating in the event among representatives of 55 countries, is the speaker of the Polish Lower House Elżbieta Witek.
“We stand with Ukraine, which is why we support and will continue to support Ukraine. Crimea has been, is and will belong to Ukraine. It’s not just a matter of peace and security in our part of the region but also of global peace,” she told TV Trwam.
Ms Witek is set to participate in bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Crimea Platform. The consultations will be crowned with the signing of a joint declaration on Ukraine.
Croatian President ducks out of the summit, offers cutting remarks
Zoran Milanović, Croatia’s president and by extension the president of the host of the event, said he would not take part in the summit, justifying his absence because of a tight schedule. He also refused to meet with Ms Pelosi, according to Euractiv.
President Milanović expounded on his absence saying that the event was a parliamentarian initiative and not a presidential one.
Instead, President Milanović, as reported by Euractive, made his way to an Adriatic resort allegedly offering a repartee stating that in two weeks’ time Ms Pelosi would not hold the roleshe currently does since Republicans would notch up a landslide victory in the November 8 US Congress elections.