Every decent and fair-minded person is appalled at the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Those of us who lived through the Cold War years never thought we’d see anything like this in Europe after the Soviet Union collapsed over 30 years ago. Sadly, here we are and there are likely to be implications for us in most potential scenarios as to how this plays out. I am writing three days before publication on Wednesday 2nd March. In a fast-moving situation, I need to state that.
Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine is a despicable unprovoked attack on a sovereign, democratic nation. They lied at every turn, claiming they had no plans to invade and then came up with preposterous rational to ‘justify’ bombing and invading Ukraine, a democratic European country that only wants peace.
The scenes we’ve seen and reports we’ve heard are heart-breaking. People are rightly upset and angry that this can happen in 2022 in Europe. Our country is right to take a strong stance in tandem with our allies. A rubicon has been crossed and such aggression and atrocities cannot be accepted.
I am pleased with the actions of our government and allies so far. While the UK has led the way and rightly pushed strongly for removing Russia from the SWIFT payments system and blocking our airspace, we are stronger together if we act in unison and it’s good to see that is now happening. More European countries have been following our lead in supplying weapons and supplies to help Ukraine defend itself.
It is a worrying time. Locally, we have some Crawley residents from Ukraine and many more from democratic countries bordering Ukraine or Russia, such as Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and the Baltic States. Understandably, it’s even more worrying for them.
The sanctions we have implemented are likely to impact our economy and risk pushing up prices, but Ukraine’s gallant fight for survival is also our struggle. The Embassy of Ukraine in the UK set up a special fund to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine's civilian population. It can be found online at https://www.withukraine.org/
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
2nd March, 2022
