 Good morning and a very warm welcome to the third meeting of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee in 2023, and this morning Donald Cameron MSP is attending remotely. Good morning. Our first assigned item is to continue our deliberations about the crisis in Ukraine, and we welcome for the first time to committee on the recusely, consul, and head of consulate of the Ukraine in Edinburgh. We are interested in Scotland's humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine, and we would like to invite consul Cusley to make an opening statement. Good morning, everyone. For the first, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to bring up the Ukrainian case and the Ukrainian refugees' issues while settling in Scotland. But, yes, I would like to tell you words that I received from our Ukrainian fellows living in Scotland, and they can convey how grateful they are to the Scots for their relentless support since Russia launched a detrimental, full-fledged war against Ukraine on the 24 February 2022. Thank you for this unwavering support of our people. Now, I'd like to move on some issues. I received lots of information from our Ukrainian refugees and who's asked to talk about it with you. So, for the time being, one of the most difficult issues remains housing. As you know, in Glasgow there is a ship, and there are 1,100 Ukrainians on board. There is no social housing, frankly speaking. Only not many people received social housing opportunities to get from the housing association. Actually, we are talking about that this organization refused to house Ukrainians because people who live on ships or in hotels are not officially considered like homeless persons. As a result, they are unable to obtain documents granting the status of homeless as required by the housing association in order to have an opportunity to get a place of living. I'd like to draw your attention, dear colleagues, to private rental homes for Ukrainians. From my perspective, there is an issue, too, because even our Ukrainian fellows are ready to pay a half a year's rent up front. They have received employment contract. Private housing is refused, too. Most landlords want a credit history review and the presence of a guarantor. Both these things cannot be provided by Ukrainians. Landlords are not even interested in learning that Ukrainians may pay their rent for a while just by utilizing perks. I can see that there is a solution that local councils might be considered as guarantors for Ukrainians and these problems can be sorted out, but we need to support this decision. In terms of the social housing, I'd like to say that our Ukrainians don't understand the status of the property they received, like social housing, whether this is a permanent or temporary place of living. They are oblivious about that and how to pay contracts, where to pay it, and how to make contracts with utilities companies. This is a gap in informative sessions, informative campaigns that local councils might be in a position to provide them with. It took me by surprise to get to know that there is an issue for our Ukrainian fellows while they are dealing with job centres. People are offered jobs for Ukrainians which don't match their experience or expectations. For example, a woman don't even have a driver licence and submitted her CV in English to the job centre, was proposed a job like a construction crane driver. It's ridiculous from my perspective. People who don't speak English language are offered positions for working at call centres. It's not coherent. I guess that job centres should be working closely with Ukrainians in order to inform them about their opportunities, how to find a job and how to submit effective CVs in order to open up their opportunities to be socialised in this country and to be effective for Scottish communities, local communities. Another issue I'd like to underscore is the medical issue. There are many asked questions with how to register with a GP. Ukrainians don't know about that. What is more important is that they don't have a possibility to register with dental care. Sometimes they are forced to leave the United Kingdom for a certain period of time to go, for instance, to Poland to get dental services. I was told by my colleagues from our branches, I mean branches of Ukrainians in Glasgow and Edinburgh, that there is a problem in Glasgow with showering our Ukrainians with £200. So some of them can't get this financial support from the government as it was declared before. To my mind, I guess that there is important to take your attention to the issue associated with psychological support programmes for Ukrainians. More than half of them have psychological trauma when leaving Ukraine and leaving their family there, their husbands there. We are talking primarily about women with kids. I guess it would be much appreciated if we would find a solution for this issue. So another issue associated with driving licences for Ukrainians. There is a big problem for them to change their Ukrainian driving licence onto local one. First it's expensive, then there is a certain period of time required to do their exams, to pass, to sit exams for them. I was told also to draw your attention to issue of qualifications because lots of Ukrainians fleeing our country as a result of the Russian aggression, they have qualification in law, in medical field, but currently they don't be used here as professionals. If we would struggle to find a solution to recognise Ukrainian qualifications in Scotland, it would be much appreciated. I'm going to tell you that there is an issue with private transport, private vehicles of Ukrainians. What's the problem? When fleeing the country, Ukraine, they were going with their private cars. According to the UK legislation, private cars should be re-registered. In six months period in the UK. Under the visa schemes, our Ukrainians here in Scotland are temporary visitors. It's reasonable to find a solution so that their vehicles will be stained with them on a Ukrainian registration number plate. For the period allowed them to stay in the UK because they are prepared to come back to Ukraine and then this procedure will require other additional steps, time and money. I would like to summarise, in order to support culture of Ukrainians here in Scotland, from our perspective, it's a good decision to support our branches of Ukrainians here in Scotland, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, who are very closely dealing with our compatriots living in Scotland. If it would be a good opportunity to set up special grants like in order to develop culture and support culture for Ukrainians living in Scotland, I think it would be a solution how to keep Ukrainians traditions and culture alive here. Thank you for your attention. I'm ready for your questions. Thank you very much for your opening statement, consul. I would like to say that these problems were not familiar or new to us, but a lot of what you're raising unfortunately are challenges for many people in Scotland at the moment. If I could maybe examine some of them in terms of the Scottish Government's competency, some of the issues that you raise will be in the gift of the UK Parliament. I'm sure that, as a committee, we will decide later, but one of the possibilities is that we could write to the UK Government raising those specific concerns around car registration and around the issues of the DWP. Personally, if I can say that the Ukrainian, displaced Ukrainians in my constituency are my constituents and my door is open and I'm sure that of my MP colleagues and the councillors across Scotland, we are there to represent you as our constituents while you're living in Scotland. There's maybe something that we can do individually to address some of those issues, and I certainly would encourage anyone who lives in Motherwall-Musha to come to my door. It seems that there is a gap in a basic pack of information or a one-stop shop to go for people to seek and get advice. I'm sure that we will want to explore that with the minister. If I could go back to specifically the issues around unemployment and seeking employment and qualifications, that was raised with the minister when he visited my constituency several months ago when the very first families were coming to live in Motherwall-Musha. It's about professional qualifications. That was particularly about teaching qualifications. I'm interested to know what routes are being offered to the people that you have spoken to. Pointing the job centre is maybe not appropriate for everyone. I know that when I have in my own dealings as a constituency MSP, we have successfully put people in touch with Skills Development Scotland because they have the same rights as anyone else in Scotland to be able to gain that support. I was wondering if that was something that you were aware of and what more would you like to see from professional organisations about accepting qualifications from Ukrainian sur here? I was told by my guys that, for example, people coming to Scotland having medical qualification and teacher qualification in Ukraine, they were proposed, for example, to clean rooms in hotels, something like this. That's the problem. I would like that Ukrainians living in Scotland have the same rights like other nationals living in Scotland, like their international qualifications are accepted by locals. That's the problem. Of course, you have mentioned Skills Development Scotland. I guess that this organisation should be involved more in order to deal with the Ukrainians because I know that this organisation also can help to create a city in order to open up their capabilities to be used in Scotland. That's my point. That's certainly something. All the points you raised today, we will have an opportunity next week to discuss with the local authorities. We may have COSLA and the minister will be coming the following week, so we will be taking those points forward. If I could move to questions from the committee, I want to first to my deputy convener Donald Cameron. Thank you, convener, and good morning, consul. Thank you so much for coming today. Can I just ask one question about housing, which you've talked about already? The Scottish Government has announced that the contract on the ship in Glasgow is coming to an end, I think, at the end of March. The ship here in Edinburgh has had its contract extended for a further five months in December. I think that's the position, but I'm happy to be corrected. Given that temporary accommodation looks like it, it may be coming to an end in the next five to six months. It seems to me that it's vitally important that new accommodation ensures that existing employment and education can be continued. I just wondered if you had any concerns about the transition from the ships, as it were, to housing on land. You've spoken about some anxieties already, but please feel free to expand on that. So, as far as I know, a ship in Glasgow should end up to 31st of March. Of course, I applied to the Scottish Government in order to make the process of placement for Ukrainians who are supposed to leave the ship as smoothly as they can. I was told that, for the time being, there is a special team working from the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council, and currently they are looking for solutions for our Ukrainians. But what I would like to say is that it's important to take into account that people who lived on the board, they socialized in this area. It's important for local council and the Scottish Government to try to find a placement not far from this area. Because it's associated with children, it's associated with workplaces of our Ukrainians. That's my guess. Thank you, convener. Thank you. Could you move to questions from Mr Ruskell, please? Thank you, and thanks for taking time to join us this morning. I want to ask a few different questions and to go back on to your point about accommodation and some of the difficulties with temporary accommodation and seeking long-term accommodation. Is this the experience of displaced Ukrainian people across Europe or are there other countries where permanent accommodation is being found more rapidly? Are there other countries that are managing to find a way to do this better for Ukrainian people? I should be honest with you. I don't know about other countries. We are working here in Scotland. I can talk about this issue based on information that I received from my Ukrainian fellows. Can I move on to the visa schemes and, in particular, the Ukrainian extension scheme? Do you think that this has worked effectively and, more specifically, has it supported people who are Ukrainian seasonal workers in Scotland and the UK? I know that there is a problem. There is an issue with extension visas for Ukrainians. But I think, from my perspective, that it's important to create conditions when Ukrainians might be able to get their visa extended to stay in the UK. At the same time, there is an issue with getting BRP for Ukrainians. For example, people applied for the BRP and they couldn't get it within three months. I guess that this issue should be raised. But anyway, visa extension schemes should be thought of. Would it be better if there was a scheme where there was a visa waiver or an automatic grant of leave for displaced Ukrainian people? It would be perfect if you would be able to realise this decision. Does this happen in other countries around Europe? For other countries, again, as far as I know, according to my expertise, we are talking about the United Kingdom. Lots of people are asking what will be then after three years when the visas are coming to the end. From this perspective, of course, it's important to take into account their wish to stay and work in Scotland and provide them with if the war will keep raging. We need to think of it right now, because then we will not have enough time to realise this step forward. I can go back to seasonal workers in Scotland. Certainly, as a regional MSP, I had some contact with fruit farms and other employers. I have had some contact with Ukrainian citizens who are staying in hotels and are picking up work at the moment. They may want to continue with that work going forward. Have you had any particular concerns from seasonal workers around accommodation or their ability to bring their families to the UK or any other issues around communication about visas? So far, I have no concerns about seasonal workers because they have contracts. Of course, if they want to take their families to the UK, this process should be according to the UK legislation. I didn't receive any concerns in this route. It's very good to see you today, consul. I think that we are very appreciative of the fact that you are telling us what feedback you have from Ukrainians who have come to Scotland. We tend to meet individual people, so to get the feedback from them generally is really critical for us. As the convener said, we have the local authorities and the minister in front of us, so that is very helpful. I am very aware that, in my own area in Edinburgh, we have housed a lot of the people who have come from Ukraine. We also have a local community that was here already, the Ukrainian community who has been supportive. On one of the things that you are saying, it sounds like we need a bit more support in terms of access to English language teaching. Is that something that we need just in Edinburgh or would that help in other places? In Old Glasgow, we have got several hundred people now who have come to Glasgow. Do we need that spread in other areas? Thank you for raising this issue. To my knowledge, there are approximately 3,000 people living in Glasgow, 3,000 Ukrainians. Not everyone has the opportunity to get English courses, like ESOL. I guess that this opportunity for Ukrainians across Scotland should be extended. It should be extended and it is more important to pay our attention to schools, to Ukrainian children. Of course, not in every school there is an opportunity to support them in order to help them to be socialised with local children. Our Ukrainian children, most of them, I would say, do not have enough English language skills. It would be good, of course, to have... I understand that it is very tough for local government and authorities to provide every school with a supportive teacher for Ukrainians, but at least one person who would have the English language command and have psychological skills would be much appreciated for Ukrainian families. In Edinburgh, we have got a group called The Welcoming. They reach out to people who have come to Edinburgh because it is a capital city. We tend to get a lot of folk, so they have put on lots of classes, so maybe there is experience there that could be shared. Is there more we could be doing to mobilise our local community support? I know when that has happened in Edinburgh it has been successful. Is there more we could be doing as MSPs to encourage that work to happen with our councils? You may ask if you mean Ukrainian local communities. Both the local community and the Ukrainian community. In this case, to my mind, it would be good to have some grants. These grants would help Ukrainian local communities to organise lessons, English lessons for Ukrainians, living in Edinburgh, Glasgow, but lots of people live across Scotland. It is difficult for them to commute from a small village to a nearest council. First, it takes time. Second, it takes money. That is why, of course, it would be better to find settlement for them, not far from local cities, because this is like the rub. One problem, we cannot sort it out and it drags in another problem. It is a very good point. We can feed that in as well. You asked some very important and difficult questions, but it is good that we hear them. It is good that you are so clear and honest about them. Some of the issues that you have raised are obviously for local authorities, convener, and I will be hearing from them soon. Some of them are also, to be honest, I think that we should be hearing from the UK Government or an agency, somewhere in the UK Government at some point in committee if you are willing. For instance, you mentioned the recognition of qualifications, which, as I understand, is one of the very few areas of education in Scotland that the UK Government has responsibility for. I think that there are other people with your permission, convener. I think that we probably need to hear from them in the future. The issue that you mentioned that I was most interested in was displaced families who are trying to get a house and who find that, although they have the money for the rent, they do not have the paperwork if you like. They need someone to act as guarantor, so you suggested a local authority. Can you say a bit more about that and how people are trapped in that situation? Sure. For example, I'm a displaced person here. I have a contract, I have a salary, and I'm going to the private market here in Scotland. I'm applying to an agency. They proposed me a flat. It works out for me. When we are coming up to the signing of the contract and discussing matters with landlords, landlords hearing that we are talking about Ukrainians and displaced persons, they require a guarantor. Who would be responsible for anything happens if anything happens with my flat? But we can see that there is a contract. We are signing this contract and I am ready to pay a six-month rent upfront, but they don't agree to take into account these facts and require any guarantors who would be responsible for Ukrainians if something happens. Otherwise, on the other hand, they require, I'm talking about the private landlords. It's clear. It's not going about social housing, of course. In certain cases, they require to review banking history. Of course, the Ukrainians who came here just six, seven months ago, they don't have enough credentials in banking sphere. They can't provide this. So there is a problem. That's why I was telling you that local councils may act as a guarantor and provide landlords. I don't know. It might be a special note that we act as a guarantor for temporary displaced persons from Ukraine. Please provide accommodation for them according to the contract. That's a very interesting point that I'm sure we'll pursue with the local authorities when they visit us. The other point that you raised that I was keen to press further as well was that you mentioned when it comes to social housing, obviously priority is given to people who are homeless. You mentioned that there was a difficulty in acquiring homelessness status. The other way of course that I've related to that way that people acquire social housing either from a council or from a housing association is by getting points. You can get points because you have a disability. You can get points because you have a history of being homeless. You can get points for all sorts of reasons. I don't know whether you have the answer to this, but are you aware whether you get points, whether you get some kind of recognition of the special status of being a displaced person? I'm aware about how it works, but our people from Ukraine are oblivious. Do you know why? Local authorities don't provide enough information for them. Of course I know about point-based systems, and you need to get certain points in order to be in line. This queue is a very long 10 years. Of course it's a problem not only for Ukrainians living here. It's a problem for everyone who would like to get social housing, including Scots living here. I understand it. At the same time, the problem was raised that you will need to be assessed as a pointless person in order to make the first step in order to be taken to the queue. Living in a hotel and on a ship, it's not possible to provide any proofs of this. That's a problem. My next question was about what are the best opportunities for intervening to provide that information so that people aren't left without that information. To my perspective, we need to urge local councils to have more drop-in sessions, to pay more attention to Ukrainians, because it should be like a train. The Ukrainians are coming, and we are trying to answer their questions as quickly as we can, sometimes not delving into the issue. Thank you for coming. I understand that local authorities should put much of their resources in order to find a person who would be responsible for any issues. I understand that. There is an issue. That's why we are here to discuss it. When you gave your opening statement, you mentioned about access to mental health support and enhancing psychological support programmes. Given that, as you mentioned, half of those displaced persons are facing trauma, could you expand on that point a little? Of course, I can extend on this point. Talking about trauma, I meant that Ukrainians who experienced bombing in Ukraine, it's difficult for you to understand, but they are. They have trauma, psychological trauma, and they need psychological support here in this country. Because they have part of their families in Ukraine. Sometimes some of their kids in Ukraine, yes. And like psychological experts, I hope they will find a route how to relax their brain for a certain period of time in order to support them psychologically here. Of course, this point would be considered well if we are talking about practical aid, practical assistance of our local Ukrainian branches. Because lots of people there are Ukrainians. They understand mentally Ukrainians. They understand how to help them, how to talk with them on their language. Talking about psychological support, we mean that a Ukrainian person should go to the psychologist and to have a conversation with this person. But very often, a Ukrainian person does not have command of the English language and using an interpreter. Interpreters sometimes don't interpret everything correctly. They convey their idea, but our people need to talk to them more deeply. That's why if you would find the possibility to grant, to set up grants for our Ukrainian communities, maybe. Our Ukrainian communities have people, psychologists from Ukraine, who would be helpful to other temporary displaced persons, thereby discharging local communities, thereby taking this burden on our shoulders from local communities. That's what I was talking about. I wonder just more generally about access to healthcare. We've heard some incidents of Ukrainians not being able to access a doctor. I just wondered if that has been your experience. I was told that it's very difficult to get an access to be registered with dental care. Dental care and concerning registration with GP. Many of them, they don't know how to be registered with the GP. There is an issue of local authorities, because when a person is responsible for everyone and providing them with temporary place of living, they need to provide them with some information. We are trying at our level to inform our citizens how it works, but our resources are not adequate for this. This is the competence of local authorities to provide certain information. I can't make a call because I don't have a command of the English. There is a problem to find an interpreter online to make a call with an interpreter. For the first look, there are small issues, but then it's growing up into a problem. Finally, there have been reports of infection control issues on the cruise ships. I wondered if there had been any improvement in that situation. Can you please extend your thought about it? There have been reports of issues on cruise ships in Edinburgh, I believe. I was just wondering if you knew if there was any improvement to that situation, but that's fine. We can leave it at their console. Thank you, convener. Thank you, consul, for coming along. As my colleagues have said, being so honest and giving us so many clear examples of where issues have arisen, I would like to underline what the convener said in her introduction. The fact that we are all here elected to represent the people that live in our constituencies or regions. I know in my constituency of Argyll and Bute that my councillor colleagues have been very supportive and are very willing to help Ukrainians that are living in Argyll and Bute. If there was one message for us to give to you, it is to ensure that your fellow country people have as much support as our own Scottish constituents have from people like us sitting around this table. I was very interested and I have asked some of your fellow compatriots about culture and how we ensure that the children that are now living in Scotland, I hope, enjoy living in Scotland and I hope, get home very soon. How we can ensure, how we can help that your children are given the opportunities to ensure that they keep their important strong links to Ukrainian culture. I know that you touched on it a bit, but if you could expand. From my perspective, we can ensure it by getting events together with the Ukrainian community and inviting as many Ukrainians we can. But as I said, many Ukrainians can't get, for example, to Edinburgh or to Glasgow from remote areas. We need to think how to improve their commute. For example, we would be able to provide an offer to use the Ukrainian passports in buses and trains and to commute freely, even in certain days of the week, Sunday, Saturday, something like this in order to be ready for coming and get together with their Ukrainian fellows in Edinburgh, Glasgow, because Dandy, yes. By the way, you mentioned, may I ask you, please? Hopefully, I've answered your question, partly at least, yeah? Partly. You've mentioned that you represent the island of Bute, yes? I do, yes. Our island of Bute is a constituency, yes, in Scotland. By the way, last week, if you don't mind, I would be open up with you today, yeah? I have a family in the consulate with a practical problem. There is a family including five people and children of two ladies visiting their school, visiting a local school, and they're bullied there by local youngs. After they have applied to local school administration, they have no response, unfortunately. In certain circumstances, they had to apply to the police even in order to secure people, to secure their kids. And there is no response to them. If you don't mind, I would like to share this information directly to you and I would ask you to be involved into this case, particular case, because they require help. I would be very happy to be involved. I'm very upset to hear what you have told me, but please, if you can contact my office, then I will provide whatever support I can. Again, thank you for raising that. I will be very happy to support whatever I can. I also asked specifically about culture and how we can help to ensure that Ukrainian children, as I said, don't lose their cultural ties to their homeland. As I've told you that one of the best options is to support financially our AEGB branches in Glasgow, and Edinburgh shows that they would be able to arrange any events associated with national holidays like Independence Day, for example, of Ukraine. To set up Saturday schools, for example, in order to keep the Ukrainian language alive, because children are like sponges. They very quickly forget native language. I mean children in age like seven, ten. This is my guess. Of course, to urge local communities to share our values in areas where Ukrainians live, to support our national holidays, and to invite our Ukrainians for taking part in joint events. I think that it's fair to say that people are people the world over, and I think that understanding how different communities operate is part of how we can understand differences and respect differences as well. I wanted to come back to accommodation again, and the shift from short-term accommodation hotels, cruise ships to longer-term accommodation. Are there other lessons that we need to learn around that? We have councils in next week, Scottish Council's representative body. I'm thinking about how do we make this as smooth as possible for Ukrainian residents. I should say that I had some contact with Ukrainian people and the local community in Cilin a number of months ago about the issues with the Cilin hotel and just the lack of certainty there as to what was happening with accommodation and the desires of some people to stay in the hotel and others to maybe move into more permanent accommodation. There seem to be issues there around communication, but I'd be interested in any reflections you have for council and what would make it easier for people because that's what we're here to do. We're here to make things as easy as possible. Firstly, we need to differentiate what we are talking about. We are talking about the social housing or we are talking about private housing. Different schemes, different approaches required. If we are talking about social housing, local councils should be more productive with dealing with housing associations. Urging them provides social housing for Ukrainians. If we are talking about private sector, we need to urge local councils to deal with a tenant agency and landlords providing necessary documents in order to ensure them that Ukrainians are guaranteed tenants. It depends what kind of housing they mean. Anyway, as I understood correctly, all routes lead to local councils. We need to talk to local councils and urge them to be prolific for Ukrainians living in their areas. Then people are concerned, for example, living in a hotel. What kind of place of living will be next? When can it be done? If placement is considered to be in different areas, we need to find a solution because they will need to find a new place of work, a new place of schooling for kids. That is my personal concern and that is my personal point of view. Is there a difference between rural areas in Scotland and more urban areas? Certainly with Cillin, the concern was if somebody was moved 20 miles away, different school, maybe different job, difficulty getting to work, no bus routes. Of course it is clear that in rural areas it is more difficult to find a job and to get to schools. That is why people are asking, please find a solution for us in areas where the commute will be easy for them, where the infrastructure will be easy for them because many of them do not have their personal costs. It is difficult sometimes to go to the shop to buy something. Do you understand what I mean? One thing that strikes me is the issue about the welcoming at the start of the process. It is very good. It is the following up with people and making sure that information is available afterwards. Your suggestions are very helpful in that. The other observation that I have is that when we first had those discussions it was very much early on in Putin's invasion. People were thinking quite short term. We have now got the experience of Ukrainians who have arrived in Scotland for several months. Maybe it is the longer term support and connectivity that is definitely something that we need to be raising with colleagues. One of the things that was mentioned to me when I met Ukrainians was that when they arrived they were just so grateful that they had escaped and they had another start. Some of the health issues are things that people do not want to mention on day one, particularly things such as PTSD or longer term conditions. It is making sure that we have that information to them. I know that some of that information is in Ukrainian and it is available from the health service but maybe it is working out how to get it to people directly so that they can then access that advice and make the use of it. I agree with you. I agree with you, yes. It would be good. Anyway, we need to think that the stay of Ukrainians in Scotland might be longer than we back down. The other thing that occurred to me after Jenny Minto's question about culture, most of us do not know about Ukrainian heritage. If there are key dates in the year, would it be possible just for you to send us a briefing on the key dates and then we could put it on our website or have it in our minutes? We are talking about the Independence Day of Ukraine, the Constitution Day of Ukraine and the Defenders Day of Ukraine. Where will we do it? We have quite rightly been focusing on the issues that you raised about the services and the opportunities that are here for displaced people from Ukraine when they are in Scotland. It is also important that we continually remind people in Scotland why people are displaced and why people are here so that people in Scotland understand that. I wonder whether I may give you the opportunity to talk a bit about what is happening in Ukraine now so that people understand the situation and that we do not allow this to leave our news screens. We do not miss an opportunity to explain to people what is actually going on if you can give us some kind of update of the position in Ukraine itself. Thank you. Actually, I can brief you on the whole situation in Ukraine. Despite a number of devastating defeats and growing losses in kilt, 123,000 Russia continues denying our legitimacy as a sovereign state. And retains its maximalist goals to destroy Ukrainian statehood, including by attacking civilians and critical infrastructure. Kremlin's ongoing mobilisation and plans on expansion of the conventional armed forces indicate its readiness for the war of attrition. Russian invaders are currently concentrating their forces for light-scale offensive actions with focus on the Donetsk and Lugansk origins. Active frontline with Russia aggressor constitutes 1500 km for the time being, while the overall frontline for Ukrainian defenders is 3786 km. The spring and early summer of 2023 will be decisive for the course of war. It is possible to win the war this year from our perspective. The speed of ending the war primarily depends on timely military and technical assistance from our partners. We must not allow it to slow down anyway. I know that you can't provide us with military support in Scotland, but I know that you can keep yielding generosity and kindness for Ukrainians. Ukrainian defendants liberated nearly half of the territory seized by Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion. This process will continue until our territorial integrity within the international recognised borders is fully restored. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Kremlin efforts to significantly strengthen Russia's military machine will be a formidable military threat to its neighbours, including the entire Europe, in the coming year. It's impossible to achieve peace acceptable to Ukraine with current Russian leaders. I should be frank with you. This is the position of our government and our president. Implementation of the 10-point peace formula presented by the president Zelensky will bring the end of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and security to the whole world. Formula's main goal is to deprive Russia of its tools to commit the crime of aggression against Ukraine and to guarantee security and justice for the entire international community. Ukraine signed an application to accelerate access to NATO until the consensus on its reach among NATO member states. Ukraine suggests implementing our proposals on the security guarantees aimed at mobilising necessary political, financial, military and diplomatic resources for Ukraine's self-defense. Both to deter an external aggression and protect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. If such aggression takes place. Today, in the morning, Ukraine was under attack a couple of hours ago and the capital was bombed to, unfortunately. It is in brief. If he would like to get elaborated information on that, I am pleased to email it to you directly. We could do much more to deliver a holistic support for displaced Ukrainians. We will be taking up those issues with UK colleagues, local government colleagues and, indeed, I think that there might be some interest from other committees of this Parliament when we hear issues around health and local authorities and education. Thank you again. You have given us a lot of food for thought, which we will be following through. We look forward to following up with you on the concerns and solidarity with the people of Ukraine.