Ukraine

Matt Rodda Excerpts

Wednesday 25th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[John Healey]

The principle on which we have donated British-made weapons to Ukraine has been consistently for the defence of Ukraine. That is how Ukraine has been using them, and using them effectively.

[Matt Rodda (Reading Central) (Lab)]

I appreciate the tone of the Secretary of State’s speech and offer him my wholehearted support. Will he say a little more about the valuable work under way in our tech industry on defence technology and how he is modernising procurement to encourage those vital companies to come forward?

[John Healey]

I know that my hon. Friend has some advanced defence tech firms in his patch. There are things we can do in this country that are valuable to Ukraine, and I will come on to a particular joint programme we have with Ukraine in a moment, but I have to say to my hon. Friend that the Ukrainians have the most creative, combat-experienced defence industry and armed forces in the world at present, and we also have a great deal to learn. It is important that we are able to welcome Ukrainian firms that wish to set up new factories and plants in the United Kingdom. I know that the shadow Defence Secretary has welcomed such a Ukrainian company into his constituency—it is set to open this week, I hope.

--- Later in debate ---

[Frank McNally (Coatbridge and Bellshill) (Lab)]

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this afternoon’s debate. I wholly welcome the remarks made by my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary and by Members from across the House, including the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Lewes (James MacCleary), and the shadow Minister, the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton).

This is a debate we would rather not be having, but the actions of the Kremlin have led us to this place and to the untold death, injury, suffering and displacement of millions of Ukrainians. Up to 2 million people have been killed or injured or are missing on both sides, 3.7 million Ukrainians have been displaced internally, and there are close to 6 million refugees—men, women and children ripped from their homes, their work, their schools, their families and their very way of life. All that has happened at the hands of a Russian aggressor whose intransigence towards this conflict means that it will continue into its fifth year, despite the catastrophic losses that the Russians themselves have experienced.

There is no doubt that the invasion of Ukraine was a defining moment of our time, although in many ways it was inevitable, given Putin’s rhetoric and actions over the last 25 years. However, the arrogance and the hubris of Russia also resulted in a vast overestimation of its might and a failure to account for the gallantry of the Ukrainian forces, as well as the robust leadership of President Zelensky and the stout resistance and resilience of the civilian population. Far from taking Kyiv in two weeks, Putin has resorted to terrorising the citizens of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities from a distance with frequent deadly air raids. The comments made earlier about air defence, and the Government’s actions in that regard, are therefore to be welcomed.

There are so many enduring and stark images from this conflict, but two of them stand out for me, the first being the evacuations on the platforms of Lviv railway station. Ukrainians were forced to flee for their lives, never knowing whether they would return. A significant contingent—nearly 400—made passage to North Lanarkshire, and many of them still reside in the High Coats area of Coatbridge in my constituency, joining a long legacy of successful settlement in North Lanarkshire over the years by people fleeing crisis and danger from across the globe.

[Matt Rodda]

Perhaps my hon. Friend will say something about the important work of Ukrainian community centres around Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In my community, they have been stalwart in supporting their colleagues back in Ukraine, sending aid and raising funds, and also maintaining Ukrainian culture through the Ukrainian language libraries and other facilities that have kept families in touch with their own culture while they are living in Britain.

[Frank McNally]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. In the High Coats area, the way in which the Ukrainian community are supporting those who are fighting on the frontline is admirable. In Coatbridge, the Ukrainian population have celebrated their national holiday, organised kids’ clubs, and formed a tenants’ association and walking groups. There is now a flourishing community of Ukrainians who are celebrating their own culture and thinking about how they can contribute and what they can offer to the wider community.

Sadly, that open celebration of their culture by Ukrainians in Coatbridge stands in stark contrast to the experience of Ukrainians thousands of miles away in Ukraine, where the Russian occupying forces have sought to erase Ukrainian culture and identity in the territories that have been devastated by those forces over the past four years—by the boundless terror, kidnap and murder that we have seen, and the monstrous stealing and indoctrination of thousands of children, which has already been mentioned. The first person to draw my attention to the scale of that was my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter), who, as the Defence Secretary mentioned, is at this moment in Ukraine receiving the Order of Merit, and deservedly so.

The other defining image that I recall from the early days of the war followed the liberation of Bucha, particularly when President Zelensky walked through what had been left after the brutal massacre and war crimes perpetrated by Russian forces, for which there must be full accountability. Despite Bucha—and, indeed, Mykolaiv, Mariupol and Kharkiv—the Ukrainians fight on. It is, of course, vital for our own security, as well as being our moral obligation, that we continue to have their backs. I greatly welcome the Government’s action on defence spending across the UK, and it is important that we build on that. Defence spending is worth £2 billion a year to Scotland and supports 12,000 jobs, from the Clyde and Rosyth to Coatbridge and Bellshill and across the country.

In addition to implementing the strongest possible sanctions, we must continue to support those Ukrainians who have settled here and built a life over the course of the past four years. For many it has not been by choice, but our communities have become their home, and we must always keep that at the forefront of our minds. However long this war has left to run, we must remain resolute in supporting the Ukrainians to find a just peace that satisfies their terms and ensures that the depredations of Putin’s regime are ended in Ukraine and never visited upon anywhere else in Europe.