Wales “has a part to play” and can expect to take in those fleeing Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, First Minister Mark Drakeford has said.
He was speaking as Russian forces reached the capital Kyiv on February 25. At least 194 Ukrainians, including 57 civilians, have been killed across country since Putin's troops launched air, land and sea strikes less than 48 hours ago.
Ukraine's defence ministry says more than 1,000 Russian troops have been killed. On an island in the Black Sea, 13 border guards refused to surrender to a Russian warship and were massacred, it has been reported.
Read more: The Welsh history of the region of Ukraine now occupied by Russia
A UK-wide response will include helping those seeking sanctuary, even if that is some way down the line, said Mr Drakeford. Wales will be part of that response and will welcome Ukrainians seeking sanctuary, just as it has welcomed refugees from other places, he added.
In the immediate short term people here should also brace themselves for an inevitable rise in fuel prices and the effect that will have on prices generally.
Prices were already rising and that has now been made worse by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the First Minister stressed.
“What we are seeing from Ukraine is deeply distressing both on a human level and what it means for the peace of the world," he said.
"From the individual to the global it is dreadful and upsetting to see.
“There is a part for Wales to play. It is indirect, as we are not responsible for negotiations, but there will be an impact.
“There will be refugees, not in the first instance, but it will mean more people will come here and Wales will embrace them and wants to be a nation of sanctuary.
“We will want to play our part in that part of the UK-wide effort.
“We have Ukrainians in Wales already. They are well established. Ukrainians have been here since the Second World War.”
Mr Drakeford warned that sanctions imposed on Putin’s Russia must be effective and that politicians must be honest about what that will mean for the cost of living here.
“It is important you are up front with people and that you are going to impose sanctions that bite into the decisions of the leadership of Russia. That will have an impact here on our lives as in the cost of living.
“We already had a huge challenge with gas prices going up and National Insurance contributions going up. That was already hard and sanctions on Russia will have an impact on sending energy prices even higher.”
Mr Drakeford said he had watched events unfold with horror. As a teenager he had seen Soviet Russia send tanks into Prague to brutally crush the reform movement known as the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a civilian in these circumstances. It is deeply distressing for world order.
“I remember the Prague Spring as a 13 year-old and seeing the tanks rolling in on the news. To think it is happening again 50 years later is deeply distressing.”
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