Global security is the number-one issue in the world, Ukrainian parliament Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk said in Lovran on Saturday, ahead of the first Parliamentary Summit of the International Crimea Platform in Zagreb on Tuesday.

Every state which has its own Crimea is aware that the issue of global security is now the number-one issue in the world, he told the press after the unveiling of a monument to Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko.

Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014 as well as four Ukrainian oblasts last month – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia,

It’s necessary to assess today’s security system and discuss options so that it does not happen again that someone changes state borders and creates their own as they see fit, Stefanchuk said.

Ukraine’s cities and their civilian and energy infrastructure are being shelled by Russia, so he called on the whole world to support Kyiv with more military assistance.

Stefanchuk thanked Croatia for co-organising the Zagreb summit, describing it as a special and historic event.

It’s not only parliaments that are meeting in Zagreb but our peoples, too, and the parliaments will speak on their behalf, he said.

The inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform was held in Kyiv in August 2021. The Platform coordinates the international response to the annexation of Crimea and other security challenges. Another, virtual summit was held this past August. Both brought together heads of state or government. The Zagreb summit will establish the Platform’s parliamentary dimension.

Croatian President Zoran Milanović will not attend the event. Asked by the press if this was Ukraine’s wish due to his statements, Stefanchuk said the most important thing was that the Croatian people had opened its heart to the Ukrainian people. We see that at all levels, from common people to state authorities, he added.

Milanović recently objected to the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia, saying he did not want Croatia to interfere in that war “more than it needs to,” which was praised by Russian media.

Although it was invited, Serbia, which refuses to impose sanctions on Russia, will not attend the summit. Stefanchuk said the door had been open to everyone from the start and that it was up to them whether to walk through it or not.