Delegation of MSs to travel to Ukraine in honour of Welsh journalist Gareth Jones

Five members of the Senedd will travel to Ukraine to honour Welsh journalist Gareth Jones next week.

The delegation will consist of Mick Antoniw – a second generation Ukrainian –  and Alun Davies representing Welsh Labour, Tory leader Darren Millar and Laura Anne Jones representing the Welsh Conservatives and Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru.

They will arrive in Kyiv on Tuesday (April 8) to discuss with the leaders of Kyiv Council designs for a plaque in Welsh, English and Ukrainian to mark a street which has been named after Gareth Jones.

The former Western Mail journalist was instrumental in exposing Stalin’s Holodomor – a policy of deliberate starvation – which killed an estimated 4-5 million Ukrainians during the 1930s.

Jones visited the Soviet Union on three occasions and wrote articles for several newspapers exposing the horrors he observed.

He was kidnapped by Chinese bandits and murdered in murky circumstances in 1935 while investigating in Japanese-occupied Inner Mongolia.

In 2019, Jones’ story was told in a biographical thriller film based on his life.

Links

Wales has historic links with Ukraine through the mining industry and Donetsk  – formerly Hughesovka.

The five MSs will meet with representatives of Luhansk, which has been twinned with Cardiff Council since 1963.

Much of Luhansk is under temporary occupation but they will bring a letter of solidarity from Cardiff Council leader Huw Thomas.

The delegation will also meet with members of the Ukrainian Rada, the ministry of culture, the language commissioner and the children’s commissioner.

They will go on to visit the granite mining town of Korystyshiv in the Kyiv region before returning to Wales on Friday (April 11).

Supplies

Speaking on behalf of the delegation Mick Antoniw said: “The Welsh Parliament stands with Ukraine. We have total cross-party unity in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and opposition to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

“To date the Senedd cross party group has delivered 40 vehicles to front line Ukrainian units and over a million pounds of medical supplies.

“We can support Ukraine by visiting them and being there at this difficult time and developing economic, social, cultural and academic links. “