1. There is nothing more important than saving the lives of people and their futures. Territories, political or national ambitions and geopolitics — they are not of paramount importance today. Human life takes precedence as the ultimate value.

2. Any continuation of large-scale military actions will lead to even more victims — unlike territories, the loss of life will be permanent and irreversible. The economic and environmental consequences might well prove irreparable.

3. In a conflict involving the use of state-of-the-art weapons, no winner will be discovered on the battlefield, in such a confrontation neither side can achieve a definitive military victory. This is a fundamental truth.

4. Territorial issues can only be discussed in earnest once a ceasefire agreement has been concluded.

5. More and more international military experts and specialists, leading historians and political scientists support the need for a ceasefire. Public opinion polls, notwithstanding their artificial and conditional nature in the current situation in Russia today, demonstrate that approximately 50 per cent of the Russian population now adhere to this point of view.

6. The proposal of a ceasefire critically needs the broadest possible public support. That is why we must constantly talk about this issue and try to persuade people to come round to this view.

7. In the case of both Russia and Ukraine, the existence of these countries in the 21st century is contingent on a ceasefire enacted as soon as possible, for the issue today is whether these people will have a future. This is a fundamental security issue for all of Europe, and possibly for the world as a whole.