Meeting of the Parliament 05 March 2025
I thank Colin Beattie for bringing the debate to the chamber and, as ever, for his long-standing and steadfast support for Ukraine. As other members have done, I acknowledge the presence of the Consul of Ukraine, Andrii Madzyanovski, and other members of the Ukrainian Scottish community. As Liam McArthur has done, I share our appreciation for his predecessors, Andrii Kuzlii, and, before him, Yevhen Mankovskyi, who also played such an important role after the full-scale Russian invasion.
It is important to remember that, as a number of colleagues have pointed out, the Russian aggression started not three years ago but way before that. That is the Ukrainian experience. If you want to know about Russia’s imperial ambitions, speak to the Georgians in Abkhazia or South Ossetia, or to the Moldovans—the list goes on. We have been reminded about 1958 in Hungary and 1968 in Czechoslovakia. The Soviets and the Russians have form in all this.
The statement from the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon, reflecting on the European leaders’ summit, was extraordinarily welcome. Given the literally dangerous situation that we find ourselves in, the fact that there is cross-party support not only in this debate but more widely—which is perhaps too rare—is a reflection of our understanding of how important it is that we work together.
That was echoed yesterday by the First Minister’s statement in the Parliament. The First Minister emphasised a number of themes that I think have come through in the contributions that we have heard. We have heard all about the courage and determination of Ukraine’s democratically elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and, indeed, of all Ukrainians, not only since Russia’s full-scale invasion but since the invasion of Crimea, in the east of the country, years previously.
Rather than single out any particular speech, I pay tribute to everybody who has spoken, because everybody has spoken in support of Ukraine this evening.