6. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Invasion of Ukraine and supporting Ukrainian refugees

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:05 pm on 15 February 2023.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 5:05, 15 February 2023

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and can I thank everyone who's contributed to today's debate, and especially Mick, obviously, who has such strong personal connections to Ukraine? I would just like to say that we never want to see that 'U' again. You have a country called Ukraine. You should never have to have a document that would say 'unidentified' or 'no fixed abode'. You do have a country that has international recognised borders, and that's why the United Kingdom has stood shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian people, and that's why the President of Ukraine came here last week, along with the rest of Europe that he visited, to show that strength of support and appreciation for the Ukrainian people in their hour of need. As we come towards the year's anniversary, which is a week on Friday, many of us thought that we would never see it run this long and that, ultimately, some sort of common-sense approach would appease Putin and he would withdraw back to those international borders, and ultimately, Ukraine could carry on being a nation state—a proud nation state.

But the comments that Alun Davies made about saying 'brutality', 'generosity', and also, I would add, 'solidarity', are typical of what this debate should be about. Mark Isherwood highlighted in his opening remarks the comments around the brutality, about the deaths, about the destruction of property. We've heard about children being taken out of the country of Ukraine into camps—camps. This is Europe we're talking about. For many people in the modern era when we're talking about Ukraine, they have images of European football championships being played there and going there on holidays. And also, from an agricultural point of view, I have much understanding of the great agricultural potential that Ukraine has, as Tom Giffard touched on about the food supply that is provided. Sam Rowlands touched on the community support that obviously has been offered the length and breadth of this country, and also the rest of the UK and the rest of the world as well, which is greatly appreciated when you think of the mass movement of people—7 million, 8 million, 10 million people and more are in transit and being displaced because of this conflict. Let's not forget, we haven't seen anything like that since the second world war. Some of us with a long enough memory would remember the brutality of the Balkans crisis and what went on there, and that was a terrible and damning indictment of diplomacy's failure, but this is of a different magnitude altogether.

And it has been said in this Chamber that not all Russians are guilty here. They're a state captured by Putin and Putin's cronies around him. This isn't about being against the Russian people. This is about the regime that Putin leads and the dictatorship that he operates within the borders of Russia. And Heledd Fychan touching on, sadly, that example in Llantwit Major of the Facebook page. We must always root out that level of hate and that level of poison that does exist in a very small amount of people's minds, but overcome that with the generosity of spirit that we have shown as politicians, but also as a country as a whole we have done that. But also, the Minister's response. I pay tribute to what the Minister has done in her role in social justice, but also highlighting—the point that Janet Finch-Saunders raised—about the need for housing, which I know the Minister is conscious of, but it is, because sadly this war is ongoing and people's displacement is longer than any of us would like to see, going to be with us for many years to come, if not decades to come. And when people are thinking about schooling and putting their roots down in communities, they do need that ability to call a place home, because that is going to be critical about bringing balance back into people's lives.

So, my points today are around the brutality—we've heard about that in this debate; the generosity—we've heard that in this debate today, the generosity of the Welsh and the British people; and above all, the solidarity of how we all stand with the Ukrainian people as we come up to that 12-month anniversary. We all want this war to come to an end, but by standing shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian people and saying that it is our firm commitment that we want to see the international borders of the Ukraine respected, we will overcome, we will triumph, and ultimately, the Ukrainian people will have that place called home: the Ukrainian nation state. Thank you.