Ukraine has officially handed over the documents of ratification of the Istanbul Convention to the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Bjorn Berge.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Maria Pejcinovic Buric wrote about it in Twitter.

"I warmly welcome Ukraine's transmission today of the document of ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Ukraine is the 36th state party to this landmark treaty," the message reads.

As you know, on June 20, the Verkhovna Rada supported the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention.

On June 21, President Volodymyr Zelenski signed the law ratifying the Istanbul Convention.

This decision, which had been delayed for many years-particularly because of the position of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches-was especially important for the Netherlands and Sweden, two skeptical countries that finally agreed to support Ukraine's EU candidate status.