The Riksdag marks one year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine

To show support for Ukraine one year after Russia's full-scale invasion of the country, the Speaker will deliver a speech during a ceremony in the Chamber. During the week, the Ukrainian flag will also be hoisted at Riksplan, and the East Wing of the Riksdag will be illuminated in yellow and blue.

“Support for Ukraine is very strong here at the Riksdag. That is why we are honouring the Ukrainian cause, among other things, by lighting up the facade of the East Wing in the country’s colours,” says the Speaker Andreas Norlén.

From Tuesday 21 February until the morning of Tuesday 28 February, the facade will be illuminated in the evening and night from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m.

On 23 February, a ceremony will be held in the Chamber, during which the Speaker Andreas Norlén will deliver a speech.

The Ukrainian flag will be hoisted on the anniversary on 24 February, and for an hour the previous day during the ceremony in the Chamber.

“24 February will, admittedly always be soiled by the belief in irrational violence as a method of exercising power. But above all, this day will for ever be associated with the belief in humankind’s opportunities to stand up for what it believes in and the courage and strength of the Ukrainian people,” says the Speaker Andreas Norlén.

Speech by the Speaker in the Chamber, 23 February 2023

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Honourable members of the Riksdag,
Your Excellency,

At daybreak on 24 February 2022, the air-raid warning sounded over Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. One year has now passed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
One year has passed since the first men, women and children became the victims of Russian bullets, grenades and cruise missiles.

One year has passed since everything changed for millions upon millions of Ukrainians who, until then, had lived ordinary, European, lives in their country, in the heart of our Europe.

The date 24 February has been sullied by violence, an unjust violence that seeks to subjugate a whole country and its people. But above all, this day will forever be associated with the will and opportunities of humankind to defend what it holds dear – it will be associated with the fight for what is good and right, and with the courage and strength of the Ukrainian people.

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 24 February last year, you stood there in the gallery, Mr Ambassador, and received standing ovations from a gathered Riksdag. One year has passed, and much has happened, but our support for the Ukrainian cause remains solid here at the Riksdag. It is for this reason that I wanted us to gather here in the Chamber today, at the heart of democracy, to mark this day.

Our respect for the courage, endurance and resilience of the Ukrainian people has grown – day by day, week by week, month by month, with every murder, every missile, every massacre. I imagine there are few of us who really, deeply, can comprehend the sacrifices these people have been forced to make, both collectively and individually.

Sweden, and the Riksdag, have taken a wide range of measures to show our unyielding support, both in concrete terms and symbolically.

As a symbolic manifestation of our support, we are illuminating the façade of the East Wing of the Riksdag this week in the yellow and blue colours we share with Ukraine, and flying the Ukrainian flag at Riksplan both now and tomorrow.

This Chamber has shown support of a more substantial nature during the past year with the numerous decisions to provide military, humanitarian and economic support, which have been taken by broad political consensus.

As early as 28 February, just four days after the Russian invasion, the Committee on Finance presented a committee initiative concerning support to Ukraine, which was adopted the same day. The debate in the Chamber was attended by the Minister for Defence, as well as several party leaders.

Depending slightly on how one counts, one could say that, in the last year, the Riksdag and the Government have taken decisions to give support to Ukraine on seven separate occasions, in addition to the two ordinary amending budgets that are presented to the Riksdag every year.

These are examples of the ways in which we in the Riksdag have shown that we can act promptly, forcefully and with broad consensus when the situation demands. And while prompt decision-making has been crucial, the procedures have also been in compliance with the rules. The proposals have gained broad support in the parties before they have been prepared by the committees and decisions have been adopted in the Chamber, even if this has all taken place at great speed. All this is a strength for our democracy.

We have also seen considerable consensus within the EU and with our Transatlantic partners, regarding the view on Russia’s war against Ukraine. This has been of central importance. As the current holder of the Presidency of the Council of the EU, Sweden has a special responsibility for maintaining consensus among the member states, both as regards support to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.

Honourable members of the Riksdag,

In the greater story of our world, one year is just a fleeting moment, but for a person who is suffering, it is an eternity.

We have seen inconceivable and immeasurable suffering in the last year – we have seen hospitals and schools bombed to pieces, we have seen mass graves, we have seen waves of refugees and it fills us with anger and grief – but above all, we have seen the courage and determination of everyone who knows that he who fights the fight of the righteous never fights in vain.

It fills us with admiration, but also with gratitude. Gratitude because it is our battle too that the people of Ukraine are fighting – the battle of our generation for freedom and democracy, for each country’s right to choose its own way.

When all of this is over, and history is written, names such as Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kherson and thousands of other large and small communities will be remembered as places where the battle was fought for the future of Europe.
It will say that the battle was successful – because it must be successful. We simply cannot envision a Europe where freedom and democracy are trampled on, where the free world with all its power and all its resources fails to do enough.

When all of this is over, the judgment of history will come down hard over those who bear responsibility for Russia’s unjust, illegal and malicious war.

When all of this is over, we will proudly be able to hoist the blue and yellow flags of Sweden and Ukraine side-by-side, and note that we stood side-by-side in the battle for that which is right and good.

In conclusion, I would like to quote the Ukrainian poet, writer and playwright Kateryna Babkina, and read a few lines from her poem “Eternal memories”.

So when – expected or not – the moment has come
in a city where everything has been set on fire
in a country that demands too much of you
recite in your mind the names of all those you love
those who in love shall walk in your footsteps
and close not your eyes.
Eternal memories: thin rays flowing through all time,
fragile sounds in the air, light-blue voices,
glittering gold in the eyes of others.
So when you are close to death, sing silently to yourself:
life gives way to life again like the sea in the rain
and for that reason it never ceases.

Let us now rise together and give a standing ovation for Ukraine and for His Excellency the Ambassador.