Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann:

agrees that: - in February 2022, Russia - a founding member of the United Nations (UN) and a permanent member of its Security Council - launched a full-scale, illegal invasion of Ukraine, in defiance of international law, and in defiance of the UN Charter;

- Russia has prosecuted the war with a wilful and reckless indifference to its human consequences;

- tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed and maimed, millions have been forced to flee their homeland and millions more have been internally displaced;

- Russia has deliberately and cynically targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure;

- Russia has caused immense environmental devastation;

- cities such as Mariupol, Kharkiv and Bakhmut have been bombed to rubble;

- Ukrainian prisoners have been mistreated by Russia;

- Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russia; recognises that: - President Putin has frustrated every attempt to bring about a ceasefire and negotiations, including those led by the President of the United States;

- there are no signs whatsoever that President Putin is ready for peace;

- President Putin has refused to meet President Zelenskyy and has again intensified Russia’s attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine;

- Russia has engaged in a reckless pattern of incursions and interference in European Union (EU) States;

- Russia has violated the airspace of several countries, including Denmark, Poland and Estonia; acknowledges that: - Ireland, as part of the Coalition of the Willing in support of Ukraine, will stand with them, shoulder-to-shoulder, for as long as it takes;

- if Russia chooses not to come to the table, the world must increase economic and political pressure on it until it does;

- with our EU and international partners, we will strengthen and tighten our sanctions;

- Ukraine is part of the European family and that its future lies within the EU; and calls for: - the EU to maintain its efforts to strengthen our economic and political support for Ukraine;

- a focus on achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine;

- increased pressure on Russia to agree to a ceasefire and meaningful negotiations, including by stepping up sanctions and other economic measures;

- security guarantees that Ukraine needs to underpin any future peace agreement;

- EU membership for Ukraine as part of a comprehensive set of security guarantees;

- the unblocking and acceleration of Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations.

We are accepting the two amendments to the motion.

I add my voice of welcome to Ambassador Larysa Gerasko. I also welcome our guests in the Gallery. I hope they enjoy the debate. I thank the Minister of State for being here. I know he was in London last night with the British-Irish Parliamentary Association, BIPA, and he gave a good and comprehensive report about how we do not go back to conflict. The two subjects are not totally removed from one another. We have learned a lot in our quest for peace. We now have to help support the people of Ukraine in their quest for peace and for a peaceful existence. As the ambassador said earlier at the foreign affairs committee, it is not just about a ceasefire; it is about a permanent peace so people can go about their lives and live in the normal way that we all take for granted, but which the people of Ukraine cannot take for granted.

Today marks 1,329 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine. As the people of Ukraine continue to endure relentless and brutal bombardment by Russia, it is absolutely vital and more important than ever that the European Union, including Ireland, keep up its efforts to strengthen our economic and political support for Ukraine. As I mentioned, our focus has to remain on achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine. It is, therefore, hugely important to increase pressure on Russia to agree to meaningful negotiations, including by stepping up sanctions and other economic measures. EU membership for Ukraine must be part of a comprehensive set of security guarantees. The Taoiseach is continuing to push for the unblocking and acceleration of Ukraine's accession negotiations, and I know the Tánaiste is too. Ukraine is doing a lot of hard work on reforms, but the EU must also play its part.

The ongoing onslaught against Ukraine and the violation of the territory of EU member states in recent weeks underline the serious threat posed by Russia to our collective security. That is not taken seriously by some, including some Members of the Oireachtas. We have to call that out. Russia could, and should, end its brutal war at any moment. It has to halt its attacks, accept an unconditional ceasefire and come to the negotiating table. It has shown no sign of doing that. Instead, Russia has intensified its air attacks against Ukraine's towns and cities, deliberately targeting civilians and essential infrastructure. That is something I witnessed two weeks ago when I went to Kyiv for approximately 36 hours. For me, it was important that I go. It was an EU delegation led by the Danish Presidency. There were approximately eight of us on it. It was really important to show solidarity and bear witness to what is happening. What I saw and experienced will genuinely never leave me.

The chair of the Ukrainian Parliament's European integration committee, Ivanna Klympush, was our host. She was the former minister for EU integration. There is nothing like hearing, and seeing, as witnesses in the place where this is happening. It was moving to lay flowers at a tribute to those from the Ukrainian Parliament, the Rada. Both elected members and staff members have died, and we had the opportunity to pay our respects to them. We then went to the centre of Kyiv, where there is a photo montage of all of those who have died. You can imagine the thousands upon thousands of photos. While we were there lighting candles, families, friends and neighbours came up to pay their respects, and there was a pall of sadness and uncertainty because we do not know how long that wall is going to get, and families do not know how many more of their family members will have to go to place a candle and another photograph there.

While we were there, we went to Bucha where we saw the grave of 500 undocumented people, a mass grave of people who were just thrown into it. The Ukrainians have since opened the grave and taken the bodies. They are still not all identified, but they have now been buried according to their own religion and tradition. To think that this only happened three years ago.We went to the town of Moshchun and saw a large stone inscribed with "2022" and I was reminded that it was just three years ago that 189 young people were murdered there trying to defend their town. That happened just after the invasion, when the Russians thought this was going to be over in a week and they could march into Kyiv having taken over the land of Ukraine.

We went to see a power plant that was bombed. This power plant provided all the energy for the large town of Ukrainka. That was destroyed and then destroyed again two weeks after it was rebuilt. In the last two days, the attacks on energy plants have escalated and we now know that the railways have been attacked. The railway system is the only way to bring in supplies, including food, as well as international delegations such as ours to be able to bear witness. That is incredibly disturbing.

I want to briefly mention what the ambassador said today at the foreign affairs committee. It is important to give testament. Unfortunately, the ambassador cannot speak here today but I want to speak on her behalf and on behalf of all Ukrainians. The ambassador correctly said to us:

This is the largest and most brutal war Europe has witnessed in generations. Its consequences extend far beyond Ukraine [we have seen evidence of that in Poland, the Netherlands and Denmark recently], threatening global security and undermining the rules-based international order.

Over the past month, the intensity of Russian aggression has escalated.

When we were in Kyiv it was very disturbing to hear a briefing from the ministry for defence that its intelligence knows that Russia is now making 1,000 drones every day. If it is making 1,000 drones every day, it intends to use those drones every single day. The night I was in Kyiv, most of which was spent in a bomb shelter, four people were killed, including a 12-year-old girl, two very close to the hotel we were in. We went there the next morning. It was really shocking and sad. The authorities in Kyiv had already been there and had started making sure the place was safe. They brought counsellors for all the families. They were just sitting out on the grass talking about how they deal with yet another child killed.

Two people were killed that night in the cardiac unit in the hospital in Kyiv. Again, hospitals are being targeted, which is absolutely shocking. It is not just military installations that are being targeted. It is the energy grid, the hospitals, schools and homes. It is not simply warfare. It is calculated, deliberate and nearly industrial-scale cruelty and terror. Russia generally strikes under the cover of night.

Anyone who goes to Ukraine is advised to download an app which tells people when the area they are in is in danger. I cannot delete the app from my phone. I look at it every day to see the places under pressure in Ukraine and particularly the areas I visited. Most upsetting of all is that when people have died because of an attack, a little reminder comes up to stop and give a moment of peace for those who have died overnight in Ukraine. That happened the night I was there and it has happened practically every night since.

It is unbearable to think how people are living their lives. I commend the people I met in Ukraine on their resilience, bravery and courage in how they try to live their lives as normally as possible. They are very concerned about many things. Obviously, they want to live their lives as normal, but they are very concerned about losing a generation, the generation of young people who left when the war started. They are now starting school and college in Ireland and in other places. Ukrainians are afraid that they will never get back that lost generation. They are very concerned about those areas around Mariupol where Russia has now taken over territory. People are not allowed to speak their own language. They cannot attend a Ukrainian school. Everything has changed for them.

There is much more I could say. I appreciate that my colleague Senator Daly has his own sense of this and wants to put his own words to this motion, which is very important. I thank my party for agreeing to bring it forward. I thank others, including our coalition partners, for supporting it. At the start, I said that Senator Stephenson had tabled two amendments which we are accepting. They will be in the body of the motion to be put to the House and hopefully will be passed.