On September 18–19, the political and public section of the 5th Ostrogski Forum was held in Kyiv. The forum is a Belarus–Ukraine platform for discussing bilateral relations, regional security, and future partnership between a democratic Belarus and Ukraine.
This year, the forum is being held with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for the first time and with the participation of a representative of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Chief Advisor, Franak Viacorka, and Advisor on Parliamentary Cooperation and Constitutional Reform, Anatol Labiedzka, took part in a political discussion alongside:
- Mykhailo Podolyak, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine;
- Iaroslav Chornogor, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine responsible for contacts with Belarus’s democratic forces;
- Bohdan Yaremenko, People’s Deputy of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada;
- Pavel Latushka, Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus.
Mykhailo Podolyak reaffirmed Ukraine’s support for Belarus’s democratic forces. A working group on issues concerning Belarusians in Ukraine will be established to help address practical matters, including legal status, documentation, and joint projects.
Bohdan Yaremenko called for strengthening parliamentary cooperation with Belarus’s democratic forces.
A joint statement was adopted at the forum regarding the establishment of the circumstances of the forced displacement of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus and assistance in their return. It was supported by representatives of Ukraine, Belarus’s democratic forces, and the countries’ civil society. The document records a commitment to:
- jointly identify and document cases of the deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children;
- determine their whereabouts in Russia and Belarus;
- collect information about their living conditions, forced ideological indoctrination, and militarization;
- establish the role of officials and state institutions in Belarus;
- engage international human rights, investigative, and legal mechanisms;
- seek accountability for those involved;
- facilitate the safe return of the children to Ukraine or to safe third countries.
The statement condemns the Lukashenka regime’s complicity in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The parties agreed to continue coordination between the Ukrainian side, Belarus’s democratic forces, human rights defenders, and the expert community.
The forum also presented the Belarus–Ukraine Relations Index and the results of a new public opinion study in Ukraine. Other discussions focused on regional security, the situation of Belarusians in Ukraine, countering the “Russian world” ideology, and the role of Belarusian volunteer fighters in the future security architecture.
The Ostrogski Forum was organized by the Free Belarus Center, the Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council, the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Political Sphere Institute, the European Dialogue Center, and the Center for European Transformation, with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, and the International Renaissance Foundation.
