On Thursday the 24th of February, after weeks of warning by the United States of American and the United Kingdom’s intelligence services, Russia’s autocratic President, Vladimir Putin, started an illegal invasion of Ukraine with the goal of installing a puppet government within three days of the conflict. Four days after Putin brought war back to the European continent, Russia has failed to achieve any of their strategic goals in Ukraine, and have been faced by a determined Ukrainian resistance and a united international response. While desiring to avoid a third world war in our history – the United Kingdom will not and has not allow Putin to walk over our values without consequence. This is a summary of our actions against the Putin regime as a consequence of their abhorrent violence in Ukraine.
First and foremost Boris Johnson made a public statement declaring that the United Kingdom have designed and put in place a “massive package of economic sanctions designed, in time, to hobble the Russian economy”. These sanctions in question were to freeze the assets of several Russian individuals, including Vladimir Putin himself, Russian businesses and Russian banks. In addition the United Kingdom was one of the first in Europe to ban all Russian Aircraft from UK airspace, which has now been followed by the European Union, making it much harder for Russia to import and export goods. Perhaps the biggest impact will come from the exclusion of Russian banks from the Swift international payment system, a move fought for by the United Kingdom, achieving agreement from the United States, Europe and Canada on Saturday evening. The combination of these sanctions and sanctions by our international allies are expected to have a devastating effect on the Russian economy, making it much harder for Putin to finance this illegal war.
Secondly the United Kingdom is standing firmly alongside our Ukrainian allies, providing the military and civilians fighting the incursion with military and humanitarian aid. This package contains “lethal aid in the form of defensive weapons and non-lethal aid” according to Boris Johnson. This is joined by the European Union who, for the first time in its history, is sending Ukraine weapons to assist its defense. In addition, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has declared her support for individuals from the UK who want to accept Ukraine’s request for foreign fighters. We must keep in mind without ambiguity that the Russian regime bear sole responsibility for this conflict, when all other countries desired peace, Putin opted to start a war. It is because of this fact that the United Kingdom and our allies will not engage with Russia militarily, a war of any scale is not what we hope to achieve. The aim of the United Kingdom is the same of those in Ukraine, to protect the Ukrainian people and their freedom.
Finally, the senseless and brutal attack by the Putin regime has had a horrific humanitarian effect, and it is vital that the United Kingdom does goes further than sending aid. The Home Secretary Priti Patel has made clear that the United Kingdom has multiple official visa routes for Ukrainians including the family migration visa which is free to apply for if you are a family member of a British National. In addition the UK has set up Visa Application centre’s in Ukraine’s neighbour countries of Poland, Romania, Hungary and Moldova. In addition, the UK government has promised to look at how else we can help those escaping the violence.
This war was more than unavoidable, it was unnecessary, but Putin’s brutal ego project in Ukraine will end in failure. The brave Ukrainian people have been successfully holding back the Russian advance on both land and sky. The international community have taken unprecedented action to incapacitate the Putin regime’s ability to finance this illegal war, and have crippled their oligarchical economy. We, as a party and a country, stand with the Ukrainian people fighting against these evil actions, and the Russian citizens bravely protesting this war in their name.