Barry Andrews: At the front, it's clear Ireland must continue to support Ukraine

If cuts to Ukrainian supports here are necessary, due to the accommodation crisis in Ireland, then we should make up that support in other ways, writes MEP Barry Andrews

Soldiers practise military skills on a training ground near Kharkiv, Ukraine, in August. Photo: Anatolii Lysianskyi/Ukraine's 127th Separate Brigade via AP

Driving six hours across Ukraine to the eastern city of Kharkiv last Saturday, the sheer vastness of the country is remarkable.

Thousands of hectares of farmland and forestry roll by barely inhabited at all. You start to feel small and fall silent. You are hypnotised by the horizons, imagining there must be enough space for a thousand cities.

Then you read that Ukraine is 28 times smaller than Russia. The great Carpathian plain is a smallholding compared to the Russian vastness, stretching away beyond the Urals to Siberia. 

So it can’t be a fight over land when Russia is already the biggest country in the world. It’s not a fight over ethnic Russians, none of whom live outside the lands already occupied.

It can only be a war over ideas. Ukrainians are fighting for the idea of Europe, for a European future. Russia is fighting to recapture an imperial dream. Putin is fighting for his own idea of government which rejects the rule of law, democracy and the freedom of its neighbours to choose that European future. 

If that is what is at stake, then this poses a problem for neutral Ireland. Irish people are very attached to the idea of the peaceful resolution of conflict and war embodied in the policy of military neutrality. But we broadly accept that the idea of Europe, embodied in the EU, has done more to deliver prosperity and peace on this island than any other political idea.

The recent Presidential contest resurfaced the tension between these ideas. How far can we go to demonstrate support for people laying down their lives to defend the idea of a European future? 

The Irish Government is correctly doing as much as it can to provide non-lethal support to the Ukrainian armed services. This includes training for the Ukrainian army in demining, combat casualty care and drill instruction training.

Over the weekend, I was shown demining operations run by The Halo Trust which is supported by Irish Aid. Every day of war requires 30 days of painstaking, hands and knees, decontamination work to clear schools, roads and agricultural land of Russian mines. 

Emergency services work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Balakliya, Ukraine, on Monday. Photo: Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP

The Government has also provided training for 700 Ukrainian soldiers in clearing explosive materials. However, it was clear from my visit that Ukraine is being stretched to its limits. It has suffered huge depopulation and struggles to put soldiers on the frontline.

I spoke to a soldier in a service station on the way to Kharkiv. He was on his way back to his artillery unit — I guessed he was in his mid-40s as he told me he has two sons, aged 25 and 17. It was sad to think that older men like him are being deployed to the most dangerous parts of the war.

Before independence, Ukraine was the engineering and innovation centre of the Soviet Union. There is no doubt that Ukraine in the EU will test the bloc’s budget. In my view, Ukraine is far from ready to join the EU so should be expected to meet all the targets of any accession country — for its own sake.

My visit came after two ministers resigned over a €100m corruption scandal involving kickbacks in the energy sector. How perverse it is to think of senior government officials ripping off the energy system from within, as Russian drones attack from without.

Ireland's support of Ukraine

When President Zelenskyy comes to Dublin in a few weeks, the Taoiseach will have to be pretty firm about the continuing need to tackle corruption.

The Taoiseach should also express concern about the recent rule change allowing 18- to 22-year-old men to leave Ukraine, while the economy and war effort require them.

The Government has sadly had to reduce benefits to Ukrainian refugees here such as the Accommodation Recognition Payment. As we provide no lethal military support, the huge welcome towns and villages across Ireland gave to Ukrainians and these financial benefits were the mainstay of our support.

If these cuts are necessary, due to the accommodation crisis in Ireland, then we should make up that support in other ways.

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy comes to Dublin in a few weeks, the Taoiseach will have to be pretty firm about the continuing need to tackle corruption. Photo: Eduardo Parra/Europa Press via AP

We need to push the concept of what constitutes non-military support to include defensive interventions such as cyber defences, anti-drone technology and other advanced communication systems. For the most part, sending such equipment will be collaborative with other like-minded EU countries, given the parlous state of the Irish Defence Forces.

But let us be clear, Ukraine’s destiny is within the EU.

The fertile black soil stretches away either side of the motorway back to Kyiv. You understand why they call it the ‘breadbasket of Europe’.

Within a strong Europe, Ireland must do all it can do to avoid Ukraine becoming entangled in the weeds of Russian imperialism.