Member's statement: Defending Ukraine
Member's statement by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on .
- MLA
- Dr Steve Aiken OBE
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 25 November 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Defending Ukraine
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5258623
Read the official Assembly record
Text
It is now 11 years since the West first turned a blind eye to Putin's aggression against the Ukraine. In February and March 2014, his little green men invaded Crimea. In April of that year, Putin annexed Crimea and increased his military presence in the Donbas, again with minimal response from the West. We have talked of the parallels with the mid-1930s on both sides of the argument, from well-informed observers such as Timothy Snyder, who wrote the seminal history of eastern Europe — his aptly named book 'Bloodlands' — to the rather less informed musings of the current Irish president and of Sinn Féin MEPs such as Maria Walsh, whose Putinesque view of the world is mirrored only by fellow travellers in Iran, North Korea, China and that paragon of democracy, Venezuela. Either way, the full-scale war in Europe has now reached the point at which both sides have reached a bloodstained stalemate in the bloodlands. It is a war of ferocity and savagery that has received little coverage, as a world obsessed by 60-second storylines and deliberately distracted by antisemitic tropes and wokeism ignores the plight of the Ukraine. That is ironic, because the Ukraine is fighting our wars for us. If Ukraine is forced into capitulation, the Baltic states, Poland and other countries, including us, will be next. We know that because, just as he told us that he would take Ukraine, Putin has told us that he will take his Russia into Europe. An outright liar about many things, he takes a remarkably consistent approach to telling his truth about that. Right now, a "Peace for our time" moment is being confected. History tells us what happens when the aggressor is appeased. Let us hope that the supportive rhetoric from the vast majority of right-minded nations, particularly those in the European Union that are standing fast, such as the Republic of Ireland, is followed up with resolute action to defend the Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Failure to do so will be catastrophic not just for the citizens of Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Lviv but for all of us. Slava Ukraini.
354 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.16 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.51).
- Subject area: Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.17 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.20 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.59 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.24 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.39 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.16 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.51 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.12 |
| Adopts it | 0.36 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.74 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.19 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.03 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.02 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 01:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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