Foreign Secretary Statement to the House on Situation in Ukraine

The Foreign Secretary is expected to say:

Mr Speaker, with permission I will update the House about the situation in Ukraine.

This morning Russian missiles again struck Kyiv and other cities, destroying critical infrastructure and depriving people of water and electricity.

I’ve just spoken to our Ambassador in Kyiv and I heard again of the extraordinary resilience of Ukraine’s people in the face of Russian aggression. 

At the weekend, Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has allowed the export of 100,000 tonnes of food every day, including to some of the least developed countries in the world.

Putin is wreaking vengeance for his military failures on the civilians of Ukraine by cutting off their power and water, and on the poorest people in the world by threatening their food supplies.

Over 60 percent of the wheat exported under the Black Sea Grain Initiative has gone to low and middle income countries, including Ethiopia, Yemen and Afghanistan.

It would be unconscionable for those lands to be made to suffer because of Putin’s setbacks in Ukraine.

I urge Russia to stop impeding this vital initiative that is feeding the hungry across the world and agree to its extension.

Meanwhile, Russia’s suicide drones and cruise missiles are killing Ukrainian civilians, obliterating their homes; even destroying a children’s playground.

A third of the country’s power stations were put out of action in a single week.

None of this achieves any military purpose.

Putin’s only aim is to spread terror and deprive Ukrainian families of shelter, light and heat as winter approaches.

The House will join me in condemning his breaches of international humanitarian law. 

Every Hon Member will share my conviction that Putin will never break the spirit of Ukraine’s people.

And the House will be incredulous over the glaring contradictions in Putin’s thinking. 

He claims that Ukraine is part of Russia and Ukrainians are Russians but at the same time he thinks they are Nazis who must be bombed without mercy.

When he launched his invasion, he convinced himself that Russian forces would be welcomed into Kyiv and the world would either support him or be too craven to stand in his way.

How could he have been more wrong? 

The last eight months have shown the scale of his miscalculation. 

They have also shown the barbarity of his onslaught, including mass rape committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.  

The UK’s campaign to prevent sexual violence in conflict is more urgent than ever and I will host a conference on this vital subject next month.

And now the Kremlin is resorting to peddling false claims, churning out invented stories that say more about the fractures within Russia’s government than they do about us.

It is reprehensible that Iran should have supplied Russia with the Shahed drones that are bringing destruction to Ukraine, in violation of UN Resolution 2231.

On 20 October, the Government imposed UK sanctions on three Iranian commanders involved in supplying weaponry to Russia, along with the company that manufactures Shahed drones.

Earlier, Putin announced on 30 September that Russia had annexed four regions of Ukraine spanning 40,000 square miles - the biggest land grab in Europe since the Second World War.

Once again, this exposed his self-delusion.

Putin has declared the annexation of territory that he has not captured – and what he has managed to seize he is in the process of losing. 

On 12 October, 143 countries – three quarters of the entire membership of the United Nations – voted in the General Assembly to condemn the annexations.

Russia had just four supporters – Syria, Belarus, Nicaragua and North Korea – and when those regimes are your only friends, you know you really are isolated. 

When 141 countries denounced Putin’s invasion in March, some wondered if that was the ceiling of international support for Ukraine.

The latest vote shows that even more nations are now prepared to condemn him. 

But Putin still thinks that if he can force up food and energy prices, we will lose our resolve.

Our task is to prove that he is deluding himself all over again.

Britain will not waver from supporting Ukraine’s right to self-defence.

I delivered that emphatic message when I spoke to my Ukrainian counterpart last Tuesday and my RH Friend the Prime Minister said the same to President Zelenskyy, who was the first foreign leader he called.

On Thursday I will attend a meeting of G7 Foreign Ministers in Germany, where we will send a united signal of our shared determination.

This year Britain has given Ukraine £2.3 billion of military support – more than any other country apart from the United States.

We will provide Ukraine with more support to repair its energy infrastructure and we have committed £220 million of humanitarian aid.

The House will have noted Putin’s irresponsible talk about nuclear weapons, and an absurd claim that Ukraine plans to detonate a radiological “dirty bomb” on its own territory. 

No other country is talking about nuclear use. No country is threatening Russia or President Putin. He should be clear that for the UK and our Allies, any use at all of nuclear weapons would change the nature of the conflict. There would be severe consequences for Russia.  

And how counter-productive would it be for Russia to break a norm against nuclear use that has held since 1945 and has underpinned global security.

Nothing will alter our conviction that Ukrainians have a right to live in peace and freedom in their own land.

If Putin were to succeed, every expansionist tyrant would be emboldened to do their worst and no country anywhere would be safe.  

That is why we will stand alongside our Ukrainian friends until the day comes – as it will – when they prevail.

Mr Speaker I commend this statement to the House.