Ukraine will welcome any assistance from the Philippines in terms of its expertise in forensic and international law.
Denys Mykhailiuk, Charges d'Affaires of Ukraine Embassy in Manila, said that the war-torn country needs experts from such fields as they are now looking at the liberated territories of Ukraine, where forensic studies must be done on the thousands of people buried in mass graves.
"They should be identified. They should be documented, how they died," Mykhailiuk said during the Pandesal Forum held before the 1st anniversary of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
International law specialists are also needed to work with Ukrainian prosecutors and diplomats "to document the crimes" committed by the Russian state. And the Philippine help is needed, he added.
With the recent phone call between President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mykhailiuk said he was not just sure if his president brought the matter to Marcos.
"I don't think so because during this short talk, it's usually about the political issue and not about these particular decisions to be made by the ministries," he said.
But the Ukrainian Embassy in Malaysia, he said, is willing to facilitate any help from the country.
Currently, Ukraine does not have an embassy in Manila, although Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba first told Manila Bulletin in an exclusive interview in Cambodia that his government is planning to establish one.
In the latest development of their plan, Mykhailiuk said the establishment of their embassy will come "as soon as the budget situation will allow."
In fact, he added, everything is aready, with stamps "of the new embassy already made."