Ukraine: Forcible Removal of Children

Dave Doogan Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I do. I feel great sadness for the Russian people, because the truth is that President Putin appears to be happy to endure their hardship at almost any cost. The Russians are suffering terribly, both on the battlefield and in their standards of living across Russia. The sensible thing for President Putin to do—the thing that he has refused to do—is enter into the ceasefire talks that President Zelensky, the UK and many of our allies have called for him to enter into. This is not complicated or difficult. We will continue to apply financial pressure on the Russians until he does so, and it is with great regret that some of the sanctions will put further pressure on the already suffering Russian people. That is what we must do, and it is what we will continue to do until those ceasefire talks begin.

[Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) (SNP)]

The Minister is very well read, so I wonder whether he can identify any point in history when the appeasement of an aggressive, expansionist autocrat has ever worked out well. The population of these isles and the rest of Europe have endured high energy prices for the last three years, have taken Ukrainians into their homes, and have heard his Government and the previous Government unite the House by saying that, whatever it takes and however long it takes, we will get Ukraine’s sovereign territory back. Yet here we are, with the United States apparently in bilateral talks with Russia about how to carve up Ukraine. Does he have any positive message about the UK’s role in rejecting that? If he does not have a positive message for me today, what is the message from the UK to our allies in Norway, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Moldova, who know very well what appeasement of Russia looks like and feels like?

[Mr Falconer]

I thank the hon. Member for his kind words. This is my message for the people of eastern Europe and for the people of the UK: we remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force. Russia will not win. The Russians are not winning; they are suffering terribly in trying to pursue a so-called operation that is bringing them nothing but misery. I hope that they realise that swiftly, that they start ceasefire talks on the basis of the line of contact, and that Ukraine is in a position to secure its full and sovereign rights. That is what the British Government are committed to.