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Ukraine war is not ‘just a European issue’

If Russia’s illegal aggression were to succeed, the risk of regional hot spots in Asia turning into open conflicts would increase.

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Rescuers searching for survivors at a destroyed apartment building hit by a rocket in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on Feb 1, 2023.

Rescuers searching for survivors at a destroyed apartment building hit by a rocket in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on Feb 1, 2023.

PHOTO: AFP

Josep Borrell

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Feb 24, 2022 will forever be recalled as the day when

Russia started its brutal, unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine.

This was and remains a case of pure aggression and a clear-cut breach of the United Nations Charter.

This war is neither “just a European issue”, nor is it about the “West versus the rest”. It is about the kind of world we do not want to live in: no one is safe in a world where the illegal use of force – by a nuclear power and permanent member of the Security Council – would somehow be “normalised”. That is why international law must be enforced everywhere to protect everyone from power politics, blackmail and military attack.

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