Meeting of the Parliament 19 December 2023
It has been 663 days since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, and it has been 3,589 days since Ukraine’s sovereignty was first violated during the illegal annexation of Crimea on 20 February 2014. It remains now, as it was then, an unacceptable and despicable act to launch such aggression on the European continent for the first time in many of our lifetimes. It remains vital, as it was then, to stand side by side with the people of Ukraine and to provide them with the support needed by those who have remained in Ukraine and those who have had no alternative but to flee from Ukraine and seek refuge elsewhere in the world.
Indeed, as we have heard already in the debate, we have welcomed into this country those who were fleeing bombs, artillery and missiles. That was the very least that we could do to demonstrate our firm solidarity with the Ukrainian people. We must continue to offer such a welcome for as long as Ukraine remains unsafe and its people are unable to return home. Those people should know that they have the option of a home in the United Kingdom and that Scotland is a safe place that is available to them with all the support that they would need.
During the debate, we have heard about the important initiatives that Parliament has carried out during the time that I outlined. I add my voice to those of colleagues from across the chamber who have spoken about the strength of the cross-party group on Ukraine, which was established just this month in the Parliament. I hope that it will be a strong vehicle that will allow all of us across the Parliament to offer solidarity and support to the people of Ukraine.
The move by the Scottish Government to establish longer-term support for Ukrainians in Scotland beyond the emergency phase is correct and necessary. It is incumbent on the Government to ensure that the voices of Ukrainians in Scotland are listened to when constructing and implementing that support, and to ensure that the programme of work is carried forward at pace, with all the appropriate resourcing that we would want.
My amendment notes and seeks to add to the Government’s motion. We applaud all ordinary Scots who have welcomed Ukrainian refugees into their homes. It is important to put that on the record in the debate and in the amended motion. When the call for help came, people across the country answered it and demonstrated the very best of us. Their on-going support should never be forgotten in this chamber or elsewhere in Scotland, because it was the ordinary people of Scotland who rose to answer that call and brought people into their homes.
As we move to a longer-term strategy to support those Ukrainians who have come to Scotland as a result of the invasion, it is important that we face up to and solve many of the challenges that are in front of that strategy. We have already heard reference from Miles Briggs to housing being one of the bigger challenges that we know exist. There is a housing emergency in Scotland, and research conducted by Heriot-Watt University for the British Red Cross has shown that Ukrainians are four times more likely to face homelessness than the wider population. That sits on top of previous research from the British Red Cross, which was published back in March, which showed that many Ukrainian refugees were living in inappropriate accommodation.