Meeting of the Parliament 05 March 2025
I thank Colin Beattie for lodging the motion that we are debating this evening, which offers us a chance to speak of our three years of solidarity with Ukraine. Of course, that solidarity goes back much further than three years. I will touch on that, but I first want to make it clear that the events of 24 February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, go down in infamy with the events of 4 November 1956, when Russia marched into Hungary, and with the events of 24 December 1979, when Russia marched into Afghanistan. There are similarities.
Why does our solidarity with Ukraine go back further? Let us go back to the Budapest memorandum of 5 December 1994, when Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, the US and the UK agreed to stand together to guarantee the sovereignty of Ukraine in order to get rid of the nuclear weapons that it had. The Americans did just that. At that time, we said that we would guarantee Ukraine’s security.
What happened? I will tell members what happened. On 18 March 2014, Putin decided to invade Crimea. What did we do about that? Absolutely nothing. President Barack Obama stood by and said that he did not think that it was a serious event. Let me tell you: it was a serious event—it emboldened Putin and gave him the scope to do what he is doing today. That started the creeping war, as I call it, in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine and in Luhansk, where Putin pushed and pushed at the door to see how far he would get—and we did not do anything. To our eternal shame, we stood back. We had the ability to do something, and we did nothing.
That resulted in the lightning strike by Putin to capture Kyiv airport. I have to say that, as an ex-soldier, I am incredibly impressed by the fight that the 200 soldiers there put up, which basically prevented Ukraine from falling to Putin. They did one hell of a job, and we should be proud of them. We, from all parties, should understand and accept that that is why we need armed forces: to prevent people like that from coming in.
What has Ukraine had to face since then? It has had to face the Wagner group. I do not think that I have ever come across a more disreputable group of people in my life—not that I am aware that I have met any of them. It has also had to deal with North Korean troops being shipped across, and it has had to cope with arms and weapons coming from Iran and Syria. We were prepared to let that go. We have not done enough to stop all those countries arming Russia and standing up for Putin against Ukraine.
As the United Kingdom, however, we have done a considerable amount. I think that we have spent nearly £12 billion in supporting Ukraine. I am proud that we have done that. I know that there is a cost involved, but I understand why we had to do it. I also support Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to build up the British Army again. We need to. I have made no apologies for my Government, which hollowed out the armed forces and took the peace dividend from the cold war. That was wrong. I am glad that he has seen that, and I am glad that the west is now standing on its own two feet and will do something about it.
It would be wrong if I stood here and did not comment on the appalling behaviour that I witnessed, to my eternal shame and embarrassment, going on in the White House. On JD Vance’s behaviour, he should have known better. He was a marine—or it says in his service record that he was a marine; if we dig down into it, we find that he was a journalist with the United States Marines and given the honorary rank of corporal to boot. He should not have been trying to ambush somebody who has lived in fear for their life for three years. It was wrong and disgraceful, and, if no-one is prepared to call him out, we should stand here and do that.
Ukraine will face a huge battle at the end of this invasion, when its people win—we must ensure that they win—as they rebuild their country. It has been suggested that half a trillion dollars will be needed to rebuild that country. Let us not forget or shy away from the fact that Russia took repatriations from East Germany up until the day that the wall came down. If Russia is going to pull out, it can pay for the damage, injury and loss of life that it has caused to Ukraine. To let Russia get away with anything less would be unacceptable.