Emotional service for Ukraine
Monday morning was for me must rank as one of the most emotional events I have experienced in recent years, and it wasn’t the funeral of a friend or relative.
I was at the National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle for the service to commemorate the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. The passion was so raw and the patriotism tangible as the Ukrainians burst with pride and sadness as they sang their national anthem. It was so moving I could barely sing ours immediately after.
They have lost homes and loved ones, and whatever the geo-political games are being played just now, there is no question they are prepared to risk the totalitarian yoke of Putin and his thugs. I know from speaking to them that of course they are keen for peace, but they have genuine fears about what this might mean. Losing territory might be the least of their worries.
They know Russia’s top priority if they were ever able to take control would be to stamp out their sense of national pride, just as Stalin wiped out millions in the 1930s famine and terror to impose his political will. There may be more twists and turns to come before there the war can be brought to an end, but I don’t think you need to be a defence expert to realise it will be a fragile peace in which menace is ever present, and we need to be prepared to defend those who do not want to live under foreign dictatorship. The Cold War is back.
Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Lothian