SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 17 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Ukrainian community in Tenerife has asked Canarian politicians for their active involvement to demand that the Government of Spain continue sending the military material that Ukraine needs.
Since Russia began the invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian residents in the Canary Islands have not stopped mobilizing daily to contribute from the Islands to the defense of their country and their right to be a free and democratic society like in any other European country. “We defend a free Ukraine,” explains Andriy Zubenko, a Ukrainian resident of Tenerife for more than 18 years.
Andriy Zubenko works to organize, together with other compatriots, the defense of his country from the Canary Islands: “We have asked the Canarian political parties to raise their voices with us in defense of the values of Democracy, because our fight in Ukraine is the defense of Europe in the face of Putin’s monster and a dictatorship that intends to impose its terrifying rule by force on the rest of the neighboring countries.
“Today he destroys our cities and mercilessly kills thousands of people, but if we don’t stop him, tomorrow he will attack the Baltic countries or Poland. Putin does not respect rules or limits. He wants to extend his Russian project based on blood and fire, as he has doing twenty years in other regions of the former Soviet Union,” says Zubenko.
“We feel that Canarian society supports us and is aware of our drama, when we demonstrate, people encourage us and applaud us, we feel the support of thousands of Canarians, in every act we do,” he adds.
Recently, Senator Fernando Clavijo, of the Canarian Coalition, asked the Government of Pedro Sánchez in the Senate about the military aid that Spain provides to Ukraine and whether this aid will be increased or maintained as long as the war continues.
“We need weapons to defend our families from Putin’s criminal terror. It is something that our president Zelensky and our ambassador to Spain have insistently requested from the Spanish government in recent weeks. We cannot defeat Putin with good words alone. That help has to be part of the contribution of all European countries to the defense of our model of life, based on respect for the principles of the Law and the defense of Human Rights”, Zubenko points out.
The Ukrainian community in the Canary Islands also plans to organize itself to welcome more of their compatriots who are fleeing the war, families who “have lost everything and are beginning the tortuous path of forced exile, European war refugees in the 21st century.”
“From the Canary Islands we will make our contribution to the defense of our country, and I insist, of Europe. We ask the whole of Canarian society for its support in this fight and the Canarian politicians for their active involvement in demanding that the Government of Spain continue sending material Ukraine needs, as Fernando Clavijo has done”, concludes Andriy Zubenko.
