It's a great honour to take part in this debate this afternoon and to give my thanks to our servicemen and women, past, present and future, for their incredible sacrifices that allow me and all of us to stand here today. Because, make no mistake, without our armed forces, there would be no democracy. We would not be debating our support for our armed forces; we'd be under the yoke of some dictator or another. You only have to turn to the news to see how fragile our democracy is. The hell Putin is unleashing on the poor people of Ukraine could possibly be our future, if not for the service of the brave men and women in our armed forces, men and women who are prepared to put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms. As Winston Churchill once said,

'Never was so much owed by so many to so few.'

That is as true today as it was back in 1940. But, sadly, we tend to forget that debt. We go on with our daily lives, ignoring the plight of our service personnel and our veterans, allowing our defence budgets to be cut to the bone, supplying our troops with inadequate equipment, because of the false belief that the world is at peace and armed forces are an anachronism of a bygone era. We ignored Putin's expansionism, stood idle as troops levelled Grozny, invaded Georgia, annexed parts of Ukraine in 2014, shot down a passenger jet, and continued killing civilians in Donbas. And now, Putin is hell-bent on restoring the USSR.

Today his sights are on Kyiv, but what about tomorrow? Is Chisinau in Moldova next? What about Tallinn? We don't know, which is why brave Welsh men and women are on the Estonian border, forming a red line against Putin's expansionism, hoping, like the rest of us, for a peaceful resolution, but prepared to put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms. We must acknowledge their service and ensure that our debt is repaid with interest. Far too often we have failed our veterans, which is why I believe the appointment of a veterans' commissioner marks a turning point. I hope the appointment of Colonel James Phillips will put a stop to the disregard of the armed forces covenant, put a stop to our veterans becoming homeless, ending up in prison or on psychiatric wards. We rely upon our service personnel in times of conflict and strife. They should be able to rely upon us when they have put down their weapons for the last time. We have to provide priority housing, education and welfare, and make their transition into civilian life as seamless and as painless as possible. We owe them this at the very least.

I hope Members will support our motion and send a clear message that this democratic institution stands firmly behind our defenders of democracy. Diolch.