Sometimes it's impossible to know what to say in a debate like this, to really express the horror that Ukrainians are living through, and sometimes words just don't cut it. And as my colleague Sam Kurtz rose to his feet, my phone flashed up and my jaw dropped in horror as I saw the following headline, which was:

'Putin sinks to new low: Maternity hospital is bombed, children buried under rubble' in Mariupol. It's important we don't become numb to headlines like that as they're happening more and more frequently. That's a daily reality for Ukrainians and we need to do all that we can to help them.

I've been encouraged by the response of people in Wales and the United Kingdom who have really risen to the occasion, as we always do when we're faced with a humanitarian emergency like the one we're witnessing in Ukraine. And yesterday, as Joyce Waston alluded to, the Disasters Emergency Committee said that over £6.5 million has been raised in Wales alone towards the Ukraine humanitarian appeal, which, obviously, includes that £4 million from the Welsh Government, which is very welcome. It was also great to see the UK Government saying they'd match the first £20 million donated too. Because that's what we do in Wales. We don't stand on the sidelines and look at issues like these and think they're someone else's problem. We act. 

In last week's St David's Day debate, I called Wales a national of empathy, and nothing makes that clearer than our nation's response to this crisis, of which I'm really, really proud. But there's another reason why we shouldn't be standing on the sidelines either and it's the reason that Russian troops are today on Ukrainian soil: because Ukraine wants the one thing that lots of us take for granted and that's freedom and democracy. Putin can't stand the idea of a free, democratic, prosperous and happy former Soviet nation right on his doorstep. He can't bear the thought that people might not want to live under his style of rule, and he just can't live with the idea that the nation could be part of a free democratic global community rather than be part of Russia's small but sinister web of nations. Because when people are free to choose between Putin's style of authoritarianism or true democracy, they just won't choose Putin.

I won't lie and say that Ukraine's journey to democracy has been an easy one, but it's important to remember that Ukraine held a free and fair election and President Zelenskyy was elected with over 70 per cent of the vote. But, unfortunately, we have a living breathing example right before us today of Putin's idea of a perfect Ukraine and it's called Belarus. Belarus isn't a democracy. Since its inception in 1994, it's had just one president, the deplorable Alexander Lukashenko. Since he came to power, not one election in Belarus has been accepted as free or fair by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the United Nations or the European Union, and several senior Belarusian officials are subject to international sanctions for electoral fraud. Their press isn't free either; Reporters Without Borders ranks Belarus dead-last of all European countries in its press freedom index. They significantly curtail press freedoms and state media is completely subordinate to the president. Journalists are routinely arrested for their work, and last year, two journalists, Katsyaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova, working for Belsat tv, were imprisoned for two years for covering anti-Lukashenko protests in Minsk—jailed for simply doing their job.

The judiciary isn't free; 99.7 per cent of criminal cases in Belarus result in conviction, with political opponents routinely put behind bars. And Belarus is the only nation in Europe that still uses capital punishment. Women have fewer rights; gay people face widespread discrimination; and antisemitism's practically encouraged by the state. In the interests of time, I could go on and on and on, but I won't. Perhaps the most telling thing in relation to today's debate is that whilst everyone and everything in Belarus is subservient to Alexander Lukashenko, Lukashenko is subservient to Putin. Russia and Belarus signed the union state agreement that effectively hands over complete control of all things economic and military to the Kremlin. What Putin wants from Belarus, he gets. For all intents and purposes, the country is completely under Russian control—a Russian satellite state akin to the ones in the Soviet Union. And Putin would like Ukraine to be next. We shouldn't lose our perspective here. Why are millions fleeing Ukraine and why are thousands dying on their streets? Because Putin wants Ukraine to be like Belarus. And Ukraine wants what we have: freedom and democracy. And that's why we need to do all that we can to help them.