WHEREAS, Ukraine (formerly and less properly known as "The Ukraine") has been an independent republic and separate from Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991; and

WHEREAS, Ukraine is a unitary state composed of twenty-four provinces and the autonomous republic of Crimea; and

WHEREAS, Ukraine is home to two cities with special status: Kiev, its capital and largest city, and Sevastopol, a strategic naval point; and

WHEREAS, the port of Sevastopol is a major naval base and home to the Black Sea Russian Fleet, which was divided between Russia and Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union; and

WHEREAS, continued presence of the Russian Fleet in Sevastopol has highly intensified tensions between Ukraine and Russia, which have been ongoing since the division of the Black Sea Fleet; and

WHEREAS, in November 2013, crisis erupted when Ukraine's then-president Viktor Yanukovych rejected a far-reaching trade and association pact with the European Union, preferring instead a Russian loan bailout and closer ties with Moscow; and

WHEREAS, after Yanukovych's rejection of an European Union association agreement and aid to Ukraine, peaceful protests and the occupation of Kiev's Independence Square, dubbed "Euromaidan" by young pro-European Union Ukrainians ensued; and

WHEREAS, peaceful protests turned deadly in January 2014; and

WHEREAS, on February 22, 2014, members of Ukraine's Parliament found that Yanukovych was unable to fulfill his duties, and set an election for May 25, 2014, to determine his replacement; Yanukovych was later disowned by his own party; and

WHEREAS, Yanukovych had actually left Kiev the day before, on February 21, 2014, fleeing first to Crimea, then to southern Russia; warrant for his arrest was issued, accusing him of the mass murder of protesters; and

WHEREAS, on March 1, 2014, Russian troops seized control over most of the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine; and

WHEREAS, Russia's Parliament approved the use of the Russian military in Ukraine, while Russian officials continued to claim that the presence of their military forces in Crimea was not a breach of existing agreements between Russia and Ukraine; and

WHEREAS, Ukraine's new government has deemed the aggressive posture of Russia's military "an act of aggression" to Ukrainian sovereignty, and the United States has condemned Russia's clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity as "a breach of international law"; and

WHEREAS, since the conflict began, ninety persons have died and over seventy-nine have been hospitalized, including minors and police, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Healthcare; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2014, the Senate concurring, that this body condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and strongly urges the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from that sovereign nation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the nations of Ukraine and Russia are urged to reach a peaceful resolution in order to prevent a full-scale conflict and any more loss of innocent life; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the United States Secretary of State, the United States Ambassador to Ukraine, the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and members of Hawaii's Congressional delegation.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________
		_____________________________

None

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	151
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2014
STATE OF HAWAII