Ms Lesia Vasylenko:

Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. Ba mhaith linn ár mbuíochas a ghabháil leis na Seanadóirí as ucht an méid atá déanta ag Éirinn ar son na hÚcráine.It is an honour to be addressing Senators today and to have the platform of their honourable House to speak to the people of Ireland and the people of Ukraine in Ireland. I thank the Chair for this opportunity, which our delegation appreciates wholeheartedly as unique but also much needed in this difficult time for Ukraine.

This address would not have been possible without the dedication and work of two people in this room, Senators Ahearn and Ward. I thank them for having the courage to come to Ukraine a while back, witnessing with their own eyes what Russia has done to our country and the scars it has left on our people. I thank them for not being quiet on the topic of Ukraine ever since and for the support they have provided.

Today the cities they visited - Irpin, Brjanka, Bucha - are slowly healing. They are coming back to normal, with summer greenery masking the bombarded buildings and people slowly coming back. In Kyiv, life sometimes seems more than normal, until it is not and the air sirens remind you several times a night that you are still living the nightmare of all-out war, which started on that morning, 5 a.m. on 24 February this year, when Russia escalated its eight-year aggression against Ukraine to unprecedented levels, to an all-out war in the middle of Europe in the middle of the 21st Century.

Today, 20% of Ukraine is occupied. That is three times more than just under four months ago and equates to 125,000 sq. km. That is almost twice the size of Ireland. Those thousands of kilometres are not just empty fields and cliffs or whatever one might imagine as empty spaces. Rather, 125,000 sq. km. is 2,500 municipalities, including villages, towns and cities where millions of Ukrainians are forced to live under the Russian flag and thousands are forced to die for the Ukrainian flag and for the right to be Ukrainian.

Can you imagine going through the content of your phones, deleting pictures and messages that might signify you are Irish every time you want to visit a corner store in your own country? Ukrainians in occupied Kherson do that every time before leaving the house, lest Russian soldiers find anything incriminatingly Ukrainian during checks at checkpoints. Can you imagine queuing up for water rations in 30° heat and fainting or watching excavators clear up the rubble of what was your home, only to see limbs of those who were once your neighbours but are no more? Imagine not being able to bury your family or loved ones, or not even knowing where they are. This is what Ukrainians in occupied Mariupol live every day. Imagine being a mother saying goodbye to your baby who has not lived even five months. Imagine being a father having to live the rest of your life with the image of the body of your son, killed, but you survived and have to live the rest of your life. This is the reality of hundreds of Ukrainian parents from east to west.

That is a reality that I could not imagine so I chose the other difficult reality Ukrainian parents face. On 1 March I made the decision to send my children away. I am a mother of three. The youngest turned one on 1 June. Three months of her first year was spent without her mother. My other daughter is seven and got used to seeing me twice a month on weekends when I get the time to visit. Every time before I go back to Ukraine my son comes to me with the same question: why can he not go back with me? My answer is always the same: I gave you life to live.

A total of 288 Ukrainian children have been killed by Russian soldiers, while 527 lie wounded in hospitals, sometimes disabled for life. Today Putin is stealing the childhood of Ukrainian children. Russia is taking away their right to education. Instead of learning maths and science, our children are learning the difference between hiding places in case of an artillery attack or an air raid.Instead of picking out prom dresses, partying because it is the last hours of school and celebrating graduation, our high-school children are taking photos on the ruins of their schools. As many as 184 schools have been razed to the ground by Russian forces and almost 2,000 school buildings have been damaged. Russia is stealing Ukraine's future and that is not a figure of speech. As many as 250,000 Ukrainian children have been forcefully removed from Ukraine, and from the care of their families from their homes and into Russia. That is 234,000 deported Ukrainian children to be converted into Russians. These are not just stories. All of this is evidence of an international crime - the crime of genocide - that Russia is committing right now in Ukraine against Ukrainians.

The Irish nation today is doing more than its fair share in the international efforts to prevent and stop the crime of crimes - the crime of genocide. The people of Ireland have opened their doors from the first days of war, the visas were cancelled as easy as that and people opened up their homes. To date, 35,000 Ukrainians, comprised mostly of women and children, have found refuge here in Ireland.

At the beginning of this month in this very room this House voted to recognise Russia's actions against Ukraine as genocide. We wholeheartedly thank you for this. Today, we humbly ask this House to go a step further and recognise another of Russia's acts against Ukraine as genocide. From 1932 to 1933, Russia created a man-made famine that led to the death of between 4 million and 7 million Ukrainians but Russia was not punished as it is not being punished now. As a result the Russians were inspired to do more evil. Ninety years on it is about time to restore the historic justice and send a message that the free world has no room for appeasing criminals and tyrants. The Holodomor must be called what it is - a genocide of the Ukrainian nation. Ireland can lead by example on this issue by passing, and recognising, the act and urging that other nations follow suit by recognising the Holodomor, which is the Ukrainian famine of 1932, as genocide.

We must all have no doubt that the only reason Russia is doing what it is doing now is just because it can. It is because Russia was allowed to do this. For centuries Russia has been allowed to get away with aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide but not once has Russia been punished or stopped. As a consequence of appeasement, Russia developed into the empire of evil that it is today thinking itself more sovereign than other nations, and thinking that it is okay to attack other countries and invade.

As an international community, we all have the responsibility, and moral duty, to firmly stop all of the crimes that Russia is committing. How do we do this? By securing a victory for Ukraine, which is a process that requires several steps. In the next few weeks, Ukraine's bid for candidate status in the EU will be considered. We are grateful for Ireland's unwavering support in this matter but we must ask for help to minimise any doubts in the EU member states that still have them. In the next few months we will also need victory on the battlefield. When I say we I do not mean just Ukraine. I mean all of us, Ireland, the EU and the global community. Protracted conflict leads only to more death and more wars. Russia is good at protracted conflicts. This is the game it played in 2014. Russia was allowed to get away with it and so it is trying this again in 2022. Russia's utmost aim is to decompose Ukraine and with that to decompose the very concept of sovereignty in the world. While strengthening Ukraine we ask also for efforts to be exerted and mobilised to weaken Russia.

We are grateful for the leadership that the Irish Government and both Houses have shown in pushing for sanctions against Russia, and are grateful for the non-lethal aid provided for the defence efforts in Ukraine. Like no one else, Ireland understands the need for Ukraine to be victorious and for this war to end as quickly as possible for the sake of freedom, and democracy. In the years to come Ukraine will need more help to restore and rebuild.Ireland is leading discussions on this front too. It should not be Ireland, the EU or any other country paying because it was not Ireland, the EU or any other country in the world that has caused damage and losses in the Ukraine. It is Russia, and Russia must pay. Every euro invested in the rebuilding of Ukraine must be returned by Russia. For that to happen, Putin and his war criminals must be brought to justice.