25/06/2025 Session
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) this evening, Wednesday 25 June 2025, at around 20h40 CEST (to be confirmed), as the highlight of its summer plenary session in Strasbourg. He will also take questions from members during a special extended late sitting, to be livestreamed in seven languages.
It is the first visit to the Council of Europe for President Zelenskyy, who earlier in the evening will sign an agreement on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, more than three years after the Assembly first called for the creation of such a body to try Russia’s political and military leaders for this crime.
“This is not a tribunal for Ukraine alone,” said PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos ahead of the visit. “It is a tribunal for all of us — for the idea that sovereignty is not a suggestion, that war is not background noise, that justice still has a voice.”
PACE has been at the forefront of supporting Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, voting unanimously to expel Russia from the Council of Europe, demanding the use of frozen Russian state assets to rebuild Ukraine, labelling the Russian regime “a terrorist one”, declaring Vladimir Putin an “illegitimate” president, and acting to help Ukrainian children forcibly deported by Russia, among other things.
The Assembly has debated the situation in Ukraine at every plenary sitting since the beginning of Russia’s aggression, most recently yesterday, when it debated a report on the legal and human rights aspects of Russia’s aggression, and the exchange and release of prisoners of war.
Livestream of President Zelenskyy's full visit (English, French, Ukrainian)
PACE action to support Ukraine
FAQ on the Special Tribunal
More on the Assembly
Note for editors
