17.02.23 / Razom We Stand / Press Release

It's 1-year of Ukraine war, but Ukrainian group Razom We Stand has been actively achieving results for peace and climate

Kyiv, Ukraine - The tragic one year anniversary of the war in Ukraine is approaching. In the first days of the horrific russian invasion of Ukraine, Svitlana Romanko, Ukrainian environmental lawyer and climate campaigner, was driven to establish the Stand With Ukraine campaign on March 4, 2022. This campaign launched with a letter demanding that world leaders end the global fossil fuel addiction that finances putin’s war. It was a huge success, collecting signatures from more than 860 organizations in 60 countries, and resulted in numerous countries starting effective sanctions and embargoes on russian fossil fuels, effectively helping to dry up the russian war budget.

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Kyiv, Ukraine - The tragic one year anniversary of the war in Ukraine is approaching. In the first days of the horrific russian invasion of Ukraine, Svitlana Romanko, Ukrainian environmental lawyer and climate campaigner, was driven to establish the Stand With Ukraine campaign on March 4, 2022. This campaign launched with a letter demanding that world leaders end the global fossil fuel addiction that finances putin’s war. It was a huge success, collecting signatures from more than 860 organizations in 60 countries, and resulted in numerous countries starting effective sanctions and embargoes on russian fossil fuels, effectively helping to dry up the russian war budget.

This campaign resulted in creation of a new high-impact Ukrainian-based NGO Razom We Stand, to drive a global campaign to sanction russian fossil fuels, and cease all investments into russian energy infrastructure. The organization is acting to accelerate the global transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, and pushing for a full embargo of the russian oil and gas industry.

Razom We Stand has been highly active and influential in a number of areas. The organization rolled out numerous actions during the UN Climate Summit COP27. Svitlana Romanko, Director of Razom We Stand, directly confronted russian ministers, telling them: “You are a terrorist state, you are genociding, torturing and killing us daily for nine months. Your oil and gas is killing us. You are war criminals and you should not be here, but in front of an international war crimes tribunal.”

The Razom We Stand delegation was forcibly removed from the summit, and their UN COP27 badges were suspended, a shocking action that went viral on social media. Svitlana Romanko also confronted Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of Total Energies, during the summit, insisting that he stop backing russia, at the expense of Ukrainian lives.

Early in the war Razom We Stand launched a campaign in Brussels calling on EU governments to "Stop Funding Putin's War." This resulted in high impacts at the political level, contributing to adoption and enforcement of stronger EU energy sanctions against exports of russian energy.

Razom We Stand has been successfully driving change among big energy giants and governments. Just a month after it's creation, Razom We Stand, together with international support, sparked massive public condemnation of banks continued business in russia, with vibrant actions and signs proclaiming; "Banks Have Ukrainain Blood on their Hands."

This led to Congressman Brad Sherman directly questioning the CEOs of JP Morgan and Citigroup about their business with russian fossil fuel companies during the public hearings in the US Congress. Moreover, after Razom We Stand’s high-pressure legal case and public campaign, highlighting potential collaboration in russian war crimes, on December 9, 2022, TotalEnergies announced that they are stopping collaboration with russian gas company Novatek.

Together with influential investigative reporters, Razom We Stand exposed the collaboration of Wintershall Dea with russia. As a result, the company pulled out of russia, which had accounted for half of its business in January 2023. Razom We Stand has achieved much in its first year, and by the end of its second year, its work will have successfully contributed to Ukraine winning the war.

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Press Contact:
Jason Kirkpatrick, [email protected]
Snr. Communications Mgr., Razom We Stand