On the 1,000th Day of Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine.

KVPU – Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

The Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU), an affiliate of the ITUC, addresses you today, November 19, on the 1,000th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and on the 3,925th day of the genocidal war started by Russia.

We are compelled to once again appeal to the international trade union community in connection with Russia’s cynical and brutal attacks on Ukraine’s civilian and energy infrastructure, including nuclear power plants, aimed at creating an energy genocide of the civilian population of Ukraine during the winter. In addition, Russia continues its offensive with the aim of destroying and occupying Ukrainian territories, including industrial areas.  Ukrainians are defending their country; we are fighting for the opportunity to live and work on Ukrainian soil. We have not threatened anyone, nor have we attacked anyone. On November 16, 1994, Ukraine joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and completely eliminated its nuclear arsenal 30 years ago. We remind the world of the commitment of Ukraine to achieve common goals which are peace and a better future for the world.

On the night of November 17, 2024, Russia carried out one of the largest attacks on Ukraine, demonstrating its contempt for world diplomacy, international humanitarian law, and the highest value—human life.

This massive combined missile and drone strikes on residential buildings  and civilian infrastructure destroyed Kyiv, Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, Pavlohrad, Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv, Rivne, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskyi, and Zakarpattia regions.

Within a few hours, Russia launched 210 missiles and kamikaze drones at peaceful, sleeping cities in Ukraine, spending approximately $1.2 billion on this attack to leave Ukrainians without light and heat as frost approached. The main target was civilian energy infrastructure—facilities that provide the population with vital resources such as light, heat, and water. The attack caused emergency power outages in many regions, including leaving the city of Odesa without power for a full day.

Most devastatingly, another instance of unjustified aggression by Russia has claimed numerous victims. In Sumy, the number of civilian deaths caused by the Russian atta ck on 17 November, has risen to 11, including 9-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl,  with, more tha100 wounded, including children

In the Odesa region, on 17 November, 2024 Russian missiles claimed the lives of two energy workers, aged 41 and 44. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, two railway workers  were killed. Hostile shelling knocked out power to several railway sections in the south, west, and northeast of the country.

On November 18, Russian terror continued. The shelling of Odesa during the day resulted in the deaths of 10 civilians.

Late in the evening of November 18, Russian forces used a drone to strike a dormitory building at an educational institution in Hlukhiv, Sumy Oblast. As of the morning of November 19, the attack had killed eight people, including a child. Rescue efforts are ongoing, as people may still be trapped under the rubble.

Every day, Russian occupiers shell cities and towns on the front line, launching missiles, drones, and artillery strikes.

At the same time, we emphasize that Ukrainian cities are subjected to artillery, missile, and drone attacks every day, and the civilian population suffers from the crimes of the Russian military. Currently, fierce fighting continues in the previously peaceful mining towns where our trade union organizations operated, in particular, in Toretsk, Kurakhove, Myrnograd and Pokrovsk, and other mining towns, such as Selidove, Novogrodivka, Vugledar, are occupied by Russia and destroyed.

We emphasize once again that  people of Ukraine, workers, Ukrainean cities and enterprises suffer daily from artillery, missile and drone attacks, from military terror by Russia. In total, 59 workers have been injured since November 1, 10 of them died.

On November 13, 2024, a delegation of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (CFTU), which included the chairperson Mykhailo Volynets, international secretary Olesia Briazgunova together with mining rescuers and volunteers of the Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign (the UK), visited the mining towns of the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.

The delegation visited one of the enterprises of the Metinvest company, where witnessed brave toil of workers amid attacks.  Trade unionists and volunteers also visited the outskirts of the front-line Pokrovsk, where it spoke with workers, trade unionists, rescuers and residents. On the same day, some of these locations were shelled. In addition, on that day, a 10-year-old boy died in the Pokrovsk district during a direct Russian strike on a civilian car, and a female local resident was shot by Russian soldiers right on the street.

Our foreign colleagues from the Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign (the UK), were shocked by the scale of the destruction in the mining towns and at enterprises where people work every day under shelling. We expressed our gratitude to the mining rescuers of the 10th and 8th mining rescuers squads, among which are members of the KVPU, who are rescuing miners and civilians after the Russians attacks. They carried out a rescue operation on November 13, when, after shelling, about 300 miners found themselves in a de-energized mine – underground without ventilation and oxygen supply, with the threat of flooding. That morning, volunteers of the Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign handed over to the 10th detachment the necessary assistance collected by trade unions and caring British people.

We are grateful for this and all the assistance that is coming to the rescuers, workers, trade unions and victims of war today. It saves lives and helps to alleviate suffering.

We emphasize that every day Ukrainian cities are protected by our military, who are miners, rescuers, railway workers, doctors, teachers, and representatives of other professions. For our freedom and peace, we pay a very high price – the lives of our people, passionate citizens. Ukraine’s victory is being won through a hard struggle, including the sweat and blood of workers and trade unionists.

Ukrainians live and work in extremely difficult conditions: constant danger to life, blackouts, lack of access to basic services. And yet, they do not give up. With their work, volunteerism and resilience, and most importantly, courageous struggle on the front, they defend Ukraine and struggle for peace. Ukraine is fighting not only for its freedom, but also for the common values ​​of democratic countries – peace, justice, democracy and the right to life.

The KVPU appeals to the ITUC members and all democratic trade unions with the call :

• To support providing economic, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine;
• To support the provision of military aid to Ukraine to protect the population, energy infrastructure, workplaces, and the country;
• To support strengthening sanctions against the terrorist regime of Russia and those who support and finance it, as this can significantly limit the financial resources and export of technologies necessary for the continuation of the bloody war;
• To support ensuring the possibility of using frozen Russian assets to direct them to help Ukraine;
• To isolate and remove from positions in international organizations Russian political, public, and trade union figures, as representatives of a country that carries out terrorist activities against sovereign, independent Ukraine and its citizens.

In Solidarity,

Mykhailo Volynets

Chairperson of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine