On 10 February 2021, First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova held a meeting with Director General for Bilateral Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium Anick Van Calster.

The parties discussed the key issues of bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Belgium, fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, cooperation within the framework of international organizations, the situation on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in the midst of ongoing Russian aggression.

Emine Dzhaparova informed her counterpart of the deterioration of the situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea. In particular, she highlighted the increasing militarization of the peninsula, which undermines the safety of the region of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, forced demographic change, human rights and international humanitarian law violations of the Russian occupational authorities.

First Deputy Minister expressed hope for the participation of the Belgian side in the inaugural Summit of the Crimean Platform on 23 August 2021 in Kyiv.

Emine Dzhaparova thanked Anick Van Calster for the staunch support by Belgium of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and its European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, as well as for the firm stance on the matter of countering Russian aggression during Belgium’s non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council in 2019-2020. She particularly expressed gratitude to the Belgian side for providing medical support in Belgium to the Ukrainian soldiers wounded in action in Donbas.