Ceremony
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns one year since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Speaker emphasizes that the Riksdag and the government have, during the past year, made decisions on military, humanitarian, and economic support to Ukraine on seven different occasions 1. This support has occurred in broad political unity and followed the regulatory framework, which is seen as a strength for democracy 1. Sweden, as the EU chair, has a special responsibility to maintain the unity regarding the support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia 1. The courage and perseverance of the Ukrainian people in the fight for freedom and democracy against Russia's illegal war are hailed 1.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
TALMANNEN
Honorable members and Your Excellencies! At dawn on 24 February 2022, the air raid siren sounded over Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. It has now been one year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It has been a year since the first men, women, and children fell victim to this new wave of Russian bullets, shells, and cruise missiles in a war that actually began as early as 2014.
It has been a year since everything changed for millions and millions of Ukrainians who until then had lived normal, European lives in their country in the heart of our Europe.
The date of February 24 has been marred by the unjust violence that aims to subjugate a country and a people. But above all, the day will forever be associated with the human will and the ability to defend what one holds dear, associated with the struggle for what is good and right, associated with the courage and strength of the people of Ukraine.
Before I continue, let me extend a very warm welcome to His Excellency, Mr Andrii Plakhotniuk, Ukraine's Ambassador to Sweden, present in this chamber. Once again: Welcome!
On February 24 last year, you stood there on the rostrum, Mr. Ambassador, and were welcomed by a gathered Riksdag. One year has passed and much has happened, but the support for Ukraine's cause remains rock-solid here in the Riksdag. Therefore, I wanted us to gather in the chamber today, the heart of democracy, to mark this anniversary.
Our respect for the courage, perseverance, and resilience of the Ukrainian people has grown - for every day, for every week, for every month, for every murder, for every missile, for every massacre.
There are probably few of us who can truly and deeply realize what sacrifices the population of Ukraine has been forced to make, both collectively and individually.
Sweden, and the Riksdag, have taken a long series of measures to demonstrate our unwavering support, both concretely and symbolically.
To symbolically highlight this support, we are illuminating the facade of the Östra riksdagshuset this week in the yellow and blue colors we share with Ukraine, and we are flying the Ukrainian flag at Riksplan both now and tomorrow.
This chamber has shown more substantial support during the past year, as a number of decisions to support Ukraine militarily, humanitarily, and economically have been made in broad political unity.
Already on February 28, just four days after the Russian invasion, the Committee on Finance submitted a committee initiative on support for Ukraine which was hammered out on the same day. In the debate in the chamber, both the Minister for Defence and several party leaders participated.
Depending on how one counts, it can be said that the Riksdag and the government during the past year have made decisions on support to Ukraine on seven different occasions, in addition to the two regular supplementary budgets that are presented to the Riksdag every year.
This highlights how we in the Riksdag have shown that we can act very promptly, powerfully, and in broad agreement when the situation so requires. While the speed of decision-making has been crucial, the processes have followed the regulatory framework. The proposals have been anchored within the parties before they were prepared in committees and decided in the chamber, even though the speed has been high. All of this is a strength for our democracy.
We have also seen great unity within the EU and with our transatlantic partners in the view of Russia's war against Ukraine. It has been of decisive importance. Now, Sweden, as the chair of the EU, has a special responsibility to maintain the unity among the member states, both regarding the support for Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia.
Honorable members! In the great story of the world, a year is but a moment, but for a person who suffers, it is an eternity.
We have seen unfathomable and immeasurable suffering during the year that has passed. We have seen the bombed-out schools and hospitals, we have seen the mass graves, we have seen the waves of refugees, and it has filled us with anger and sorrow - but above all, we have seen the courage and determination of all those who know that the one who fights a righteous fight never fights in vain.
It fills us with admiration, but also with gratitude. Gratitude that it is also our struggle that the Ukrainian people are fighting - our generation's struggle for freedom and democracy, for every country's right to choose its own path.
When all this is over and history is to be written, names such as Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kherson and a thousand other large and small communities will be remembered as places where the battle for Europe's future was fought.
It will state that the struggle was successful – for it must be successful. We simply cannot imagine a Europe where freedom and democracy are trampled, where the free world with all its power and all its resources does not do enough.
When all this is over, the judgment of history will fall hard upon those who bore the responsibility for Russia's illegal, unjust, and evil war.
When all this is over, we shall be able to proudly hoist Sweden's and Ukraine's blue and yellow flags side by side and state that we stood side by side in the fight for what is right and for what is good.
In conclusion, I would like to quote the Ukrainian poet, author, and playwright Kateryna Babkina and read a few lines from her poem Eternal Memory.
So now - expected or not - the moment has come in a city where everything is set on fire in a country that demands too much of you count up in your memory all those you loved who shall walk in your footsteps in love do not close your eyes. Eternal memory: thin rays flowing through all time, fragile tones in the air, light blue voices, glittering gold in others' eyes. So when you lie for death, sing quietly to yourself: life passes into life as the sea into rain and therefore it never ceases.
Let us now once again rise together and give a standing ovation to Ukraine and to his excellency the ambassador.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.