Ukraine: UK Policy

Lord Banner Excerpts

Monday 17th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Banner (Con)]

My Lords, I would like to make two points. First, we must not stand by and let President Trump force Ukraine to accept a surrender deal. That is the only fair way to describe what Putin’s, and indeed President Trump’s, terms amount to. Rewarding Russia’s aggression would make a third world war more rather than less likely, setting a terrifying precedent that an illegal invasion can become a permanent, internationally tolerated annexation. We might as well wave farewell to Taiwan and South Korea now; their fate would surely be sealed by such a surrender deal.

Blinking at the prospect of what was called a prickly nuclear power—I think the noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, said that—would be the best possible advert for nuclear proliferation. The message it would send to a whole host of hostile countries would be: get nuclear weapons, then no one will take you on.

As for the example given by the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, of the precedent of the Cuban missile crisis, anyone who has read Max Hastings’s superb book Abyss, which I can recommend to this House, will know that the true message of history from that episode is that Russians respect strength. They can sniff out weakness, which we should not display. The Cuban missile crisis did not lead to Armageddon because the Russians knew that a nuclear exchange would lead to the total obliteration of their country, even if America would survive in some fragments. We need to project strength, not weakness.

My second point is that the case for giving Ukraine the frozen Russian state assets as reparations for Russia’s illegal invasion is compelling. Now it truly is urgent, and possibly even existential for Ukraine. It is time to move from a process of consideration to make a decision on this matter. There is at least $26 billion of these funds held in this country, and about $300 billion worldwide. Releasing these funds for Ukraine would, in a single stroke, fill the funding gap left by America’s U-turn at Russia’s expense, not our taxpayers’ expense. Surely it is time now to take this step.

In the past, it has been said at the Dispatch Box and by the Minister’s colleagues that this step must be taken in harmony with our allies in the G7. But a member of the G7 and still one of our allies—when I last checked the news—is America and Donald Trump. In winding up, can the Minister say whether the Government’s position is that the US should have a veto on releasing these funds to Ukraine, or will that be done in conjunction with other allies but not with President Trump? We all know what his position on this will be.

Secondly, a step that the UK could take unilaterally is to commit that under no circumstances will the £26 billion of frozen Russian state assets in this country go back to Russia, irrespective of whether and to whom they do go. I would welcome clarification of the Government’s position on this.

In conclusion, I thank the Government and the Minister for all the hard work that I know they are doing.

Ukraine

Lord Banner Excerpts

Friday 25th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Banner (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest. My wife is Ukrainian, our two children are British-Ukrainian and all of her family live in Ukraine. They are from Donetsk. They lost everything in 2014 when the Russians first illegally entered the country. Having relocated to Kyiv, the illusion of safety there proved only temporary when full-on war broke out in 2022. Not all of them have survived. Those who have suffer the daily terror of air raid sirens, Iranian suicide drones, the ever-longer shadow of Russian attrition and the prospect that eventually it will prevail—and then what?

As the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, said, there is occasional talk here of “war fatigue”. Some people say they have had enough of talking about it, of spending money on it, of taking risks on it. To those people I say, “Count yourselves lucky”. The Ukrainians do not have such luxury, and that luck will run out if we let Putin win and let the pariah states that support him go unpunished.

Ukraine is on the front line of a concerted attack on European freedom and democracy. Left unchecked, it will be only a matter of time before Russia and its evil allies encroach deeper and further towards us. The wolf does not stop after taking one lamb. This is not just the Ukrainians’ war: it is our war, and we have to win it. Wars are not won with words and platitudes. Wars are not won with banknotes and sanctions alone, although they clearly help. Wars are won with actions and with weapons.

We are fast approaching a point where the ability to use Storm Shadow missiles to their full extent against Russia is truly an existential issue for Ukraine: the difference between winning and losing, between repelling this tyrannical invader or allowing our fellow Europeans —for that is what Ukrainians are—to be assimilated into an autocratic new Russian empire. Yes, this may come with some risk, but when did this great nation ever duck out of a right decision simply because it carried risk? Churchill would not have wasted a second before authorising full use of the Storm Shadows and making sure our allies did, too. Besides, the risk of inaction is greater than the risk of action. Without the Storm Shadows, the alternatives are defeat or a surrender deal that rewards Putin for his illegal invasion and allows him to keep his ill-gotten gains. What message would that send to the would-be enemies of democracy and freedom around the world?

This is not just about the Storm Shadows; there must also be proper reparations, including full use of frozen Russian state assets towards rebuilding Ukraine and compensating the victims of Putin’s war. We must also dial up the heat on Putin’s henchmen: the evil regimes in North Korea and, in particular, Iran—the axis of evil fighting democracy and freedom on multiple fronts. One day Iranian missiles and drones rain down on Tel Aviv, the next day on Kyiv. One day Iran funds Hamas, the next day it arms Putin. One could be forgiven for thinking it was no coincidence that the Iranian-backed attacks on Israel last October distracted the world from the Iranian-armed Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine. The co-ordinated assault on freedom requires a suitably co-ordinated response. The existing sanctions, and the threat of more, are clearly not acting as a sufficient deterrent on their own. It is time to stop pulling our punches with these perpetrators of evil before it is too late.

I salute both Ministers for all the work that they and, no doubt, colleagues are doing behind the scenes for Ukraine. I am sure there is an awful lot that they would like to talk about but cannot. I genuinely thank them, and long may that good work continue.

I will end my speech by reading out a message from my 11 year-old niece, Zlata, who lives in Irpin. Noble Lords might have read about its annihilation in the news last year. She asked me to pass this message to the House: “Good morning. I would like to talk about what every Ukrainian is going through. February 2022 became the most terrible time. Each of us thought this day could be our last. Many of my friends’ fathers went to war to defend their homes. Some have now lost their fathers. Many more are being held captive. But if you think about it from another perspective, something good has also happened. Many have become closer to each other and have learned to value one another. I visited England and I thank you for your help. And to every country that helps us, thank you! PS: please send more weapons to the Ukrainian army so it can defend us”.