Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili has posted a statement on Facebook in response to an invitation from the Ukrainian authorities for him to visit the Ukrainian city of Bucha.

The statement  reads as follows:

“Today, similar to other Speakers of Parliaments, I have also received an invitation of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to visit Ukraine and witness firsthand the brutality of the Russian aggression.

It is impossible to describe in words the feeling of seeing the inhumanity in Bucha and Ukraine’s other cities. Unfortunately, we are all too familiar with this feeling. We have lived with it throughout Georgia’s recent history, and we will have this very feeling again tomorrow on April 9. We know that it needs sharing, and it needs the serving of justice.

For this very reason, the Georgian authorities have co-authored a request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to open an investigation into Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine to identify and punish all perpetrators.

For this very reason, the Georgian government uses all international platforms to assess the Russian aggression politically and legally. Unlike many other countries, we may lack extensive resources and capacities, but we have the same one voice on international platforms as the countries with greater resources, and we firmly use that one voice to support the Ukrainian state.

Regarding the invitation, I would wish that particular officials of the government of Ukraine fully comprehended the firm support that the Georgian people and government provide to Ukraine and its people. This support and the partnership between our countries do not deserve the attempt by high-ranking officials of the government of Ukraine to differentiate between the Georgian people and government, the demand for opening of a second military front in Georgia, unjustified diplomatic démarches, unfounded accusations of smuggling, or blaming Georgia in taking advantage of Ukrainians’ hardship, as it was conveyed in my colleague’s previous address. The official invitation appears improper while these issues remain unclarified.

We have highlighted numerous times before, and let me repeat it again that supporting Ukraine and the Ukrainian people is our humane and historic commitment, and we will honour this commitment no matter how unfair or ungrounded the accusations will be.

We will honour this commitment in a way that is deserved by the brotherhood of the Georgian and the Ukrainian nations.

P.S. Hereby I am enclosing a letter I sent to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on March 12, to which, sadly, I have not received any response yet.,” the statement reads.

Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk invited members of different parliaments, including Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, to come and see the war tragedy and killings in Bucha.