Ukrainian protestors call on PM De Wever to reaffirm support
Pro-Ukrainian activists protested on Friday in Brussels, calling on prime minister Bart De Wever not to abandon their country. They were responding to De Wever’s recent statements on the normalisation of relations with Russia.
De Wever said this month that he wanted to normalise economic relations with Russia, including cheap energy imports, following an acceptable peace deal. His statements led to debate inside and outside the government.
According to Ukrainian activists, the prime minister is partly abandoning Ukraine. “De Wever’s statements raise concerns about the transparency and sincere intentions of Belgian policy,” Olena Kuzhym said during Friday’s action by the European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine and Support Ukrainian Resistance. She called on him to unequivocally reaffirm his support for Ukraine, something the associations say is no longer evident.
"Normalisation without accountability only leads to more violence. Without Ukraine’s victory and Russia’s defeat, a lasting peace is not possible"
This is necessary and urgent, the activists says, now that a 90 million euro European loan to Ukraine is being blocked by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban. “That loan, a consequence of Belgian opposition to block the frozen Russian Euroclear assets, risks leaving Ukraine without the necessary means to defend itself,” they say.
The activists take issue with De Wever’s statements about normalisation with Russia even after the war.
“Europe has made these mistakes before, following Russian incursions into Chechnya, Moldova, Georgia and Crimea in 2014,” said Michael Desloover, co-organiser of the demonstration. “Normalisation without accountability only leads to more violence. Without Ukraine’s victory and Russia’s defeat, a lasting peace is not possible.”
The activists demand that Belgium immediately clarify its strategy to achieve victory in Ukraine and that “a normalisation of relations with Russia be renounced”. In addition, they want to reopen the discussion on the frozen Russian assets held at Euroclear in Brussels.
Protestors in Brussels, 27 March 2026 © PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER
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