WHAT kind of country do we want to be?

This question doesn’t arise only at elections or in referendum campaigns. It’s asked whenever Scotland faces a crisis (as in the pandemic) or a moral choice.

The unprovoked war in Ukraine bringing medieval siege tactics to a 21st-century democratic European nation is just such a moral issue. Edinburgh is twinned with Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, in Europe’s east but so close to East Lothian that you could drive there in under two days.

Vladimir Putin’s barbaric war on democracy attacks Ukraine’s right to run its own affairs, his destructive bombardment reaching our peaceful county via the internet, social media and TV.

In November 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared “the old concepts of fighting big tank battles on European land mass are over”. He was wrong and Scotland’s civil society can exert unrelenting pressure on Westminster to come to Ukraine’s aid with swift and decisive action.

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Last week’s Courier included Tanya Cherneta’s account of support, kindness and generosity she had received as a Ukrainian in Musselburgh. Tanya vividly described her relatives’ experience of this catastrophe, expressing shock and concern, but also detailing how East Lothian was helping.

This evidences the kind of country we want to be: compassionate; welcoming; outward-looking; generous; accepting our responsibilities willingly. In just one day, those in Scotland who were able to do so contributed £4 million to the Disasters Emergency Fund.

Meanwhile more organisations, including East Lothian Horizons, continue raising funds for refugees fleeing other wars, including those where the UK had ‘boots on the ground’: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya. Central Europe is absorbing 1.7 million refugees; meanwhile, 150 Ukrainians were stopped by UK border officials in Calais for not having visas, only 50 of which had been issued by then. The UK’s ‘hostile environment’ has no place in a modern democracy.

Ukraine’s resilience flows from those who trust in democracy, vote for it and are now dying for it. President Zelensky believes that “light will win over darkness”. Each individual gesture of support in East Lothian, large or small, demonstrates that Volodymyr Zelensky’s inspiration can make democracy’s light shine brighter.