Irish Examiner view: We can and must give our support to Ukraine

People have been driven from their homes and their homeland by a despotic tyrant

Bogdan, 41, says goodbye to his wife Lena, 35, on a train to Lviv at the Kyiv station, Ukraine, Thursday, March 3. 2022. Bogdan is staying to fight while his family is leaving the country to seek refuge in a neighbouring country.  Picture: Emilio Morenatti/AP

Much as our nation and the international community has been disgusted by the actions of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his authoritarian regime in the Kremlin for his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the viciousness of his army’s attacks on its civilians, we have been galvanised by the need to provide succour to those fleeing the conflict.

With more than one million Ukrainian people having already spilled over the country’s borders into Poland, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary — and the UNHCR predicting another three million will follow — Ireland and its 26 fellow EU members will have to work to accommodate as many refugees as possible.