Oleksandra Matviichuk is moved when she recounts what she saw these days in Buenos Aires: an active city, people going to work, drinking coffee in bars, kids at school. “Normal life no longer exists in Ukraine. We don’t know if the Russian soldiers will come to our street tomorrow, ”she says, and her immense eyes, an almost turquoise blue, moisten.
Lawyer, human rights activist from a very young age, today she chairs the Center for Civil Liberties, of her country, Ukraine, one of the organizations that won the Nobel Peace Prize this year, together with the Belarusian political activist Ales Bialiatski and the NGO Russian Human Rights Memorial.
Matviichuk has denounced the war crimes committed by the Russian military since the annexation of Crimea, in 2014. And he assures that now these atrocities against the civilian population are carried out on a large scale.
This 39-year-old woman refused to flee kyiv when Russian troops surrounded the city. She decided to stay and resist. She is convinced that this is the only way to defeat Vladimir Putin and end the war that has bled her country dry since the end of February. She emphasizes that international support is neededmuch more intense, with economic resources, weapons and logistics. Well, he says, Russia has no intention of negotiating peace.
On a visit to Argentina to participate in an assembly of parliamentarians on the International Criminal Court and the Rule of Law, he spoke with Clarion at the headquarters of the Ukrainian Association of Prosvita Culture, in Palermo.
-What does it mean to you that the organization you chair has won the Nobel Peace Prize?
-It is important to have won this award during the war. It gives us more visibility and it is an opportunity to show what we do. We have been denouncing the war crimes of the Russian military since 2014. But since the large-scale invasion that began in February, we have faced a very high number of war crimes committed by the Russian military. We have at least 21,000 documented cases. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Surely we will discover many more. We have one goal, which is to document every crime, committed in every town, in every village, so that we can bring Putin to court. We do it for justice.
-Your organization is one of those that ask the International Criminal Court to judge the Russian leaders…
-We need those responsible for these crimes to be held accountable. This is one of the main objectives of the organization I lead. But for this we need great international help. The national justice does not have the capacity to investigate every war crime. We need to take these investigations to the International Criminal Court. Because the question is: Who will bring justice to the hundreds of thousands of victims of war crimes? The life of every human being matters. And we have to provide justice to all.
-What war crimes are you referring to specifically?
-There are many: deliberate bombings on residential buildings, schools, churches, hospitals, kindergartens. Deliberate attacks on humanitarian corridors where civilians, families with children, try to escape into dangerous places. Attacks on humanitarian organizations that seek to bring assistance to the captured cities, where people are trapped. In addition to torture, sexual violence, and all kinds of attacks against civilians in the occupied territories. What we do is document human pain. Russia uses war crimes as a strategy.
What exactly is this strategy about?
-They deliberately seek to cause severe suffering to civilians to break their resistance and occupy the country. They want to cause so much pain that the people are afraid to resist. This is how you see those horrible images in Bucha and other cities, like Izium, in the Kharkov region, liberated in September. You see those photos of civilian corpses in the streets. These are practices of terror against civilians.
And how long can this last? Because they have already resisted for ten months…
– Nobody believed that the Ukraine would resist. The Ukrainian people showed extreme strength and courage. Because we know that we are fighting for our freedom. Freedom is the first value for Ukrainians, for years. We are fighting for our freedom in every way. To be an independent state and not a Russian colony. We want to build a country where the rights of all are protected, the government is elected, justice is independent and the police serve the people. It is the opposite situation to what we see in Russia, where there is an authoritarian regime. Putin will only stop when he is stopped.
-And how do you stop Putin? That is the big question worldwide.
-Ukraine has to win.
-And is it possible?
-It is unavoidable. Because we are facing the second army in the world. But the people are much more powerful than any army. Now you can see that hundreds of independently organized initiatives help Ukrainians: some deal with evacuation, others with medical care, others help the military with equipment, others provide logistical collaboration. In September we liberated the Kharkov region. Now there are battles to liberate the eastern and southern regions.
And how much longer can this situation last?
-It depends on the international reaction. We need the international community in different dimensions: we need military support, economic support, sanctions against Russian businesses and the Russian government. We need a lot to achieve it. But why do we ask, because this is not a war between two states. It is a war between two systems. authoritarianism or democracy. If we fail to stop Putin in Ukraine he will go ahead and this will have a huge impact on the whole world.
“This is not a war between two states. It is a war between two systems. Authoritarianism or democracy.”
-Why?
-Because in other parts of the world, authoritarian leaders will see it as possible: you can invade another country, you can violate the international order and you will not be punished. And this will be a very dangerous precedent for all of us. That is why we ask for support from Argentina and other countries. And I thank the Argentine people for their solidarity. In these days that I was in the country, I was told about various crowdfunding initiatives to help Ukrainians. I’m very grateful.
-You direct an organization that has just won the Nobel Peace Prize, but you ask for more weapons for your country. Do you not trust the peace negotiations?
-Russia is not ready for real negotiations. They see dialogue as weakness. The only way to end this war is a Ukrainian victory. Because Putin will not stop occupying our territory. Eight years ago he occupied Crimea and did not stop. He amassed more military strength and moved on. The Russian people tolerate war criminals. But he won’t tolerate losing war criminals. Ukraine has to win. And that will also give Russia the opportunity to reflect on this imperialist way of thinking, and build a democratic future.
-But in the meantime we will continue to see suffering, deaths…
-The alternative is much worse. We can’t stop fighting because we will cease to exist. Russia wants to liquidate Ukraine as a nation. Resistance is the best strategy.