Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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What I found most arresting about the ambassador’s opening statement was the level of detail as to just how active and brutal the war remains to this day. I refer to the level of Russia’s attacks, including missile and drone attacks and the destruction of infrastructure, hospitals and everything else. It is just relentless and it is continuing.

While it seems we are a long way from a just peace, if we somehow got to that space, what would the ambassador like to see in terms of the composition of a peacekeeping force, assuming it is a peace that Ukraine would agree to in the first place? Would she like to see it being United Nations-led or EU-led? Are there certain countries she would like to see, or that would be trusted to be, part of such a force? Does the ambassador have any thoughts on that? While I know we are a long way away from that, I am interested because peacekeeping, in our dialogue in both this committee and the defence committee, which overlap, is quite a live issue. I am interested to hear the ambassador’s thoughts in that regard.