Statement from “Ukrainian patriots association UKROP” regarding the situation in Mukacheve

The citizens of Ukraine have a common goal: to build a country that is based on the rule of law with guarantees of protection and security for its citizens. The events that took place in Mukachevo are unacceptable. An independent and impartial investigation is in order.

A year and a half after the Maidan the post-revolution government has been unable to replace the old corrupt border control authorities and to change the law enforcement agencies not only in the region of the Carpathians but throughout the country. Local mafia clans have gone unpunished and continue to operate above the law.

Responsibility for the events in Mukachevo lies not so much with the local patriots who clashed with the local gangs as with the leadership of the country. Government officials are still today making deals with the remnants of Yanukovich’s regime and the odious entourage of characters that surround him, some of who are connected to explicit Kremlin agents of influence.

We wish to emphasize that it is government inaction that is pushing people to act on their own.
We warn the authorities about the danger of utilizing the events in Mukachevo as an excuse to implement a course of harassment and persecution of the volunteer fighters coupled with attempts to disarm their unit as had been attempted before. It seems the authorities are afraid of these volunteer fighters more than they are of the Russian invaders and occupiers.

The “Ukrainian Patriots Association Ukrop” trusts that civic groups will keep track of the investigation and will see to it that the true culprit in these events will not be allowed to escape the law no matter where they may be and no matter who they will pretend to be.

We are dispatching our special representative of the “Ukrop” parliamentary faction to Transcarpathia to make sure that the interests of the local patriots are addressed and to make sure that they are protected from possible pressure by the mafia. We will provide full information about the causes and effects of the events in Mukachevo.

Original statement in Ukrainians is available on Ukrainian MP Borys Filatov Facebook page.

 EMPR, O. R. contributed to this publication