Embracing 2024: A Year of Hope, Change, and EU Aspirations!
December 22, 2023
“Dear Ukrainian friends,
We at the European Union Advisory Mission to Ukraine know that 2023 was another very hard year for you!
You are not only defending your country from Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war of aggression, you also stand as the shield of freedom and democracy against tyranny and oppression.
As partners from Europe working with you here in Ukraine, you have our deep admiration for the strength and resilience you are displaying. You also have our full support.
As EUAM Ukraine, we are an integral part of the EU’s wide and deep support to Ukraine.
We support our Ukrainian partners in the prosecution services and in the law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute the massive number of war crimes committed. There must be full accountability for international crimes so that this will not happen again!
We support Ukrainian authorities in returning to liberated territories. It is vitally important to stabilise and ensure safety in these areas, to ensure social cohesion and to reintegrate all Ukrainians.
We work with you to keep borders open and working as efficiently as possible for export and transit.
And we support the deep reforms needed across the entire civilian security sector to pave the way for Ukraine’s assession to the European Union as soon as possible.
On behalf of more than 300 colleagues here at EUAM, I want to thank our Ukrainian partners and thank you for your tireless efforts for peace, security, and freedom.
You do not stand alone. We stand side by side with you. The EU’s support for Ukraine is long-term and unwavering.
I wish you a Christmas full of warmth and peace – and we bow our heads in remembrance of those we lost.
We send our thoughts to those of you serving at the front, and we wish you safety and success in your just resistance to aggression.
And lastly, we wish you a new year, 2024, full of new hope and decisive change towards victory.
May 2024 be the year when you take decisive steps towards becoming members of the European Union.
May 2024 be the year when we can start to look forward to new times of peace and progress!
Slava Ukraini!”
Rolf Holmboe
Head of EUAM Ukraine
