Lords debates situation in Ukraine

On Thursday 21 September, members of the House of Lords debated the situation in Ukraine.

Debate

Baroness Goldie (Conservative), Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence, put forward the debate.

This is a general debate. During debates, members put their experience to good use to discuss current issues and draw the government's attention to concerns. 

Members speaking

Members speaking in the debate included:

Lord Hannay of Chiswick (Crossbench), former permanent representative to the United Nations
Lord Risby (Conservative), former chair of the British-Ukrainian Society
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Labour), former secretary general of NATO
Baroness Smith of Newnham (Liberal Democrat), advisory board member of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London.

Opening the debate, Baroness Goldie said:

'The UK continues to stand united with Ukraine in the face of Russia’s naked and unprovoked aggression. We continue to support President Zelensky’s sound principles for a just and lasting peace. That peace depends on vanquishing the invader. Ours has been a pivotal contribution, second only to the United States.

'Last year, we sent £2.3 billion in military support to Ukraine. This included hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds, air defence, anti-tank missiles and uncrewed aerial systems.'

Lord Robertson said:

'The aggression of Russia, and the gross violation of the United Nations charter by a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council itself, is a threat to our way of life...our right to live in a world of safety and security...That is why we stand with the people of Ukraine and why we need to do much more, in our own interests as well as theirs.

'A world where borders can be changed by military means at the whim of a single paranoid authoritarian would be a very chaotic world indeed.'