Latvian MP Rihards Kols on the anniversary of 24.02.

Описание: Speech given by Latvian MP and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima (Parliament) Rihards Kols at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on the one-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"As milestones go, the Russian full-scale invasion’s one-year anniversary is both grim and vexing. It marks a full year of killing, destruction, terror, loss and pain felt even far beyond the borders of Ukraine.

It also marks the simple yet empowering realisation: Ukraine is still here. That in itself is a stinging defeat for the Kremlin.

Throughout this year, we’ve collectively stumbled a number of times, I myself have done my fair share in maintaining a sense of much-needed urgency in our support to Ukraine. But let’s allow ourselves to take a moment to consider where we were a year ago and where we are now.

A year ago, they said (and thought) that the West, paralysed by greed and naivete, will implode, that the NATO alliance, supposedly irreparably broken and failing, will bark much louder than it will bite. And yet. That tired old West turns out to have remarkable willpower. From the Nordics shipping anti-tank missiles to Germany freeing the Leopards, to cutting off Russian gas and oil flows – metaphorically and physically - into Europe.

I must admit - I did not think that this was truly possible. It is a marvel and a credit to the values we postulate and, as it appears, actually hold as sacrosanct.

Russia is already on borrowed time, fighting with its own demons - satanists, drug addicts, nazis and christians, whatever is their delusion of the week - are firmly on their way towards the brink of no return, all based on lies. Russia is a country stuck in the quicksand of myth.

Ukraine - with their voices, their protests and their defiance, and their struggle and commitment to fight until victory - have pushed their way into a confident, determined and resilient nation - on its path towards… where-ever and whatever it chooses.

Slava Ukraini!