Lib Dem leader wants Scotland to do more to help Ukraine with its war effort
The Scottish Lib Dem leader has suggested that Scotland helps fund drone production and body armour for soldiers to aid in the Ukraine war effort.
Alex Cole-Hamilton said he feels more should be done after he delivered five refurbished NHS ambulances to the country.
He was joined by Lib Dem MPs Angus MacDonald and Danny Chambers, Labour MSP Paul Sweeney and businessman Robert Kilgour on the journey to Lviv.
During the trip, the group visited a factory which produces kamikaze drones at a rate of about 10,000 a month, each capable of carrying a 3kg high explosive payload.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said the Ukrainians he spoke to are keen for their cause to be remembered in the West, but the country wants to become as self-reliant as possible in its war with Russia.
He said: "The internal military industrial complex is eye-watering, it's huge.
"This is a country that's not hanging on Trump's every word to see if he will stay in the war; this is a country that's desperate to be the master of its own fate."
He called on Scotland to do more to help Ukraine, perhaps by sponsoring drone production, lthough he said his ideas on this are "embryonic".
The Lib Dem leader said: "If it's overstepping the structures of devolution to fund the direct purchase of arms, can we at least supply them with Kevlar and body armour and things like that to help keep soldiers alive?"
The ambulances that were handed over will not be used on the frontline but will pick up injured soldiers from clearing stations or field hospitals before delivering them to other facilities.
Mr Cole-Hamilton added: "It was very humbling when we heard from the brigade commander that we handed them over to that they will be saving lives.
"In a battlefield situation, time is absolutely your worst enemy – if you can't get somebody to surgery within 25 minutes, they will die or they will lose their limb."
The ambulance delivery was organised by Mighty Convoy, a London-based non-profit, which has been taking vehicles to Ukraine since the full-scale war broke out.
The groups also visited a military hospital treating wounded servicemen, with Mr Cole-Hamilton saying nearly every person there had lost a limb or eye, as well as the "massive" Field of Mars war cemetery.
Mr MacDonald said that, as well as the ambulance deliveries, thousands of pickup trucks have been donated to Ukraine from British farmers.
He said Ukrainians are "very, very pleased with the British, they really feel we've stepped up and are leading the Western world with our support of Ukraine".
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