Speech by PSL activist Igor Romanchuk at the anti-war congress in London on June 20, 2026.

I am a Ukrainian I’ve spent most of my life in Ukraine – a country where Russian bombs and missiles continue to kill civilians, and millions have been forced to flee their homes to escape the horrors of war. But acknowledging this fact does not imply support for the Ukrainian oligarchs, the Ukrainian government or the policies they pursue.

All too often, we are presented with a false choice. We are told: either you support Zelenskyy, or you support Putin. Either Russian chauvinism, or Ukrainian nationalism. Either one ruling elite, or the other.

The elites use wars to their advantage, while ordinary people pay the price.

Whilst Ukrainian elites buy themselves luxury apartments in Monaco and country estates near Kyiv, the cost of the war falls on the shoulders of workers, students, pensioners and poor families. It falls on the shoulders of those whom the Ukrainian authorities mobilise against their will, every single day! Those who oppose these policies in Ukraine today face criminal prosecution and imprisonment.

📍In March this year, Ukrainian pacif st Yuriy Shelyazhenko was detained, denied access to his lawyer and later reported physical abuse. He remains under criminal prosecution for his anti-war views.

📍Left-wing activist Bohdan Sirotiuk has been imprisoned since 2024 for opposing NATO and calling for solidarity between Ukrainian and Russian workers.

📍Earlier this week, Natalia Kozachenko, a mother of a minor child, was sentenced to five years in prison for criticizing Zelenskyy on social media.

Real solidarity with Ukraine means supporting the Ukrainian people, and not their regime! Any military or financial support that ignores these issues is a crime against the people of Ukraine!

Ukrainians want to defend their homes, families and freedom of choice. But what ‘freedom” should they sacrifice their lives for, when all they see around them is poverty, injustice, and political repression? The key question is not how to force the Ukrainians to fight, but what kind of Ukraine would they actually want to defend. A Ukraine without forced mobilisation, linguistic discrimination and political repression. A Ukraine that belongs to the majority, not to oligarchs and political elites. A Ukraine that strives for peace, not endless war and dictatorship.

Immediate peace is the primary interest of Ukrainian people, not capitulation, as our ruling class is trying to portray. If the Russian leadership rejects the peace, we must seek allies within Russian society – among deserters, draft dodgers, anti-war activists, migrants and all those who oppose this war. Russian deserters are not enemies of the Ukrainian people, but natural allies in the struggle against the war. Those who refuse to fight need legal protection, safe passage and support to rebuild their lives.

Working people from all over the world are caught between the Western and anti-Western imperialisms, which differ only in the faces at the top. This is why a strong international anti-war movement is needed now more than ever.

It must unite those whom the borders, nationalism and war seek to divide. It must show that there is an alternative to endless war based on the shared interests of ordinary people on both sides of the front line.

It must break the elites’ monopoly over public voices and narratives. We call on all conference participants to join anti-war internationalist movements, organise in trade unions and activist groups, support conscientious objectors, deserters, refugees and all those resisting war from below regardless of their nationality.

As Peace from Below and Post-Soviet left, we oppose Russian imperialism, NATO militarism, the Israeli occupation and any policy that sacrifices ordinary people to the interests of states and oligarchs.

We stand for an immediate end to the war, political freedoms and a decent life for the majority. We stand for international workers’ solidarity. For the peace from below.