Mr. Rostyslav Tistyk:

Dia duit, a Chathaoirligh. Dia daoibh, a Sheanadóirí agus a chairde Gael.It has been 111 days since the war for the independence of Ukraine started. For seven centuries the war against Russian imperialism and Ukraine's European choice has raged. Ukrainians created their state, Rus, far back in the ninth century. The powerful Christian state impressed everyone with its rich culture and strength. The majestic St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, built by Yaroslav the Wise in 1011-1018, has been the symbol of the Orthodox Church for centuries. Far back in the 15th century, Yurii Kotermak, who was born in Drohobych in western Ukraine and was a professor and later the rector of the oldest university in Europe at Bologna, used to teach astronomy to Nikolai Kopernik, who was a prominent astronomer. The military might of Cossacks was well-known across Europe. It was they who protected Europe from the horde and Muscovian troops for centuries. The first European constitution was created by Pylyp Orlyk, the Ukrainian hetman, in 1710. There is so much to be proud of. We have contributed so much to the free world and the future of Europe.

For nine centuries the love of freedom, laboriousness and wisdom of the Ukrainian people have disturbed the Muscovian horde. They are incapable of creating their own free future; they are only capable of oppressing others and ruining everything that is connected with Ukraine. Today, Putin compares himself with Peter the First, the Russian tsar who issued the Valuev Circular, which was the order that forbade the Ukrainian language, as it is the language which secures for us Ukrainians our national identity.

At the beginning of the 20th century Bolsheviks destroyed the young Ukrainian state that emerged from the ruins of the Russian empire. In January 1918, 300 Ukrainian students stood against the Bolshevik army of 4,000 soldiers. All were killed, with 27 kept in captivity and shot shortly after. In March 1919 the Ukrainian Socialist Republic was imposed by the Bolsheviks. Is that what Putin wants to repeat in 2022? Bolsheviks occupied our country in 1919 but failed to break the resistance and faith of the Ukrainian people. That is exactly why the horrible Holodomor - the genocide of the Ukrainian nation – was criminally organised. Millions of Ukrainians died of artificially created hunger. It is a terrible page in the history of Ukraine. This is exactly the experience that the successors of those Bolsheviks is attempting to use again today. They are ready to take away every grain from the Ukrainians and are threatening to doom the whole world to hunger.

Since day one of the invasion, 24 February, Ireland has been on our side, which is the side of freedom and justice. Ireland never hesitated about whether to support us. As a representative of Ukraine and the Parliament of Ukraine, I am sure every Ukrainian hugely appreciates Ireland's aid, its support and its standing with Ukraine in the times of grief and suffering when the Russian murderers came to our homes. We are grateful for the support that people in Ireland provided to those Ukrainians who were looking for shelter and found safety in this country.

However, the war is still raging. For 111 days Russia has been attacking our land. The Russists have not given up on their invasion plans and they are still terrorising our cities with their missiles and the whole world with the food crisis by blocking the sea ports in order to cause hunger, just as they did in the previous century. Hundreds of Ukrainian heroes are dying daily protecting their native country and dozens of civilians are killed daily by the Russian artillery. Thousands of Ukrainian families are destroyed and children are deprived of their parents.Today, the whole world saw the picture of a toddler, a little Ukrainian girl on her first birthday, at the grave of her heroic father who fell protecting Ukraine. This is what grief looks like. This is the pain of the whole Ukrainian people today, which is the wound that will never heal.

Still, we stand for the future, our future and the future that will inevitably come in Ukraine. We all have to do the utmost for the sake of it, demonstrate more leadership in the coming anti-war coalition and show the whole world that Ireland and Ukraine are capable of creating much more than the biggest state on the globe intends to ruin. Ní neart go cur le chéile. Glory to Ireland and glory to Ukraine.