A motion deploring the "unacceptable aggression" shown by Russian President Vladimir Putin against Ukraine has received the full backing of Swansea councillors.
They said they stood in solidarity with its people and would support those in need of sanctuary.
The motion at a meeting of full council said Mr Putin's actions did not respect international law, and that councillors backed all efforts to secure peace.
READ MORE: First look inside the new Swansea Arena after a walk to Copr Bay across the golden bridge
The strain was detectable in some elected members' voices as they wondered just where the conflict could head.
Parallels were drawn with 1938, the year before the Second World War broke out.
Cllr Lyndon Jones, the leader of Swansea Conservatives, feared a major escalation from a cornered Russian president.
In contrast, Cllr Jones said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was displaying "great leadership" and that the bravery of his people was "humbling and moving".
Cllr Chris Holley, leader of the Liberal-Democrats, said Ukrainians were fighting for their democratic rights, and that Mr Putin only cared about himself, power and money.
"I don't think we can do anything more without starting a nuclear war," he said.
Council leader Rob Stewart described what was unfolding as "abhorrent".
"It is appalling situation we find ourselves in," he said.
But he said the motion was not aimed at the people of Russia, and that they were victims too.
This sentiment was echoed by other councillors, including Cllr Wendy Fitzgerald, who said she had friends in Russia.
Its citizens, she said, risked years behind bars for protesting.
"What's going on in 2022 - we can barely imagine," she said.
Cllr Alyson Pugh said the Russian president displayed no remorse.
"He has to be stopped," she said.
Cllr Mike Day wanted to know if the council had contracts with Russian businesses.
Cllr Stewart said officers were continuing to look into this, adding that the majority of the council's gas supply came from the continental shelf - in other words undersea, and not from Russia.
Earlier in the meeting the Labour leader said Swansea Council had links with the city of Rivne, Ukraine, dating to the 1990s, and would continue to try to offer help and support.
Cllr Stewart also said the City and County of Swansea Pension Fund was looking to reduce and move away from investments with Russian entities.
The historical context
Last summer Vladimir Putin wrote a long essay claiming Ukraine occupied historically Russian lands, and that Russians and Ukrainians were one people.
He claimed "Russia was robbed".
Questioning Ukraine's right to exist and suggesting it was created by the Soviet Union "crumbles easily" in the face of "the most basic historical records", according to academic Eugene Miakinkov.
Dr Miakinkov, senior lecturer in war and society at Swansea University, said Ukraine had its own distinct language, culture and social traditions stretching back to medieval times.
It was a Cossack state from the mid-17th Century, he said, occupying an area in what is now central Ukraine, and balanced itself between its more powerful Polish and Russian neighbours.
After a period of dominance in the region by Sweden, Dr Miakinkov said the Cossack state in what is now Ukraine was incorporated into the Russian empire under Catherine II - known as Catherine the Great - in the 1760s.
"Catherine bought them off," said Dr Miakinkov.
The Cossacks were incorporated into the military, the administrative system, and Russian noble culture, he said.
"They were granted lands, titles and rights - it seemed like a pretty good deal," said Dr Miakinkov.
From then, he said, Ukraine and Russia had been in "an entangled relationship".
Fast-forward to the 20th Century and what was then Soviet Ukraine was invaded by Adolf Hitler's forces in 1941.
Some Ukrainians initially co-operated with the Nazis, as happened in other Soviet states.
"At first they thought they were being liberated," said Dr Miakinkov.
He said he didn't think this had ever been forgotten by Russia.
Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Conflict broke out after a pro-Russian Ukrainian leader rejected a deal for greater integration with Europe in 2013. He was forced from office, prompting Russia to annexe Crimea, in the south, by force.
There has been fighting ever since, with the Russian president claiming to be defending ethnic Russians mainly in two eastern regions.
Dr Miakinkov said many of these Russians settled there to work in the area's coal mines, and would later also manufacture parts for Russian weapons systems and helicopters.
Mr Putin had three objectives, said Dr Miakinkov - ensuring Ukraine did not become part of the European Union or North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, neutralising its military force, and "de-Nazifying" it.
Dr Miakinkov said this last objective was "the most puzzling," given that Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was Jewish.
Some academics say Ukraine does have a far right issue, and Dr Miakinkov did not disagree, but that is as far as it goes - and a higher percentage of Ukrainians than Russians said they'd be willing to accept Jews as family members in a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center.
Dr Miakinkov, who was born in Latvia and moved to Canada as a boy before taking up his post in Swansea in 2014, said be believed the current conflict was "irrevocably" turning Ukrainians away from Russia.
"There is a long tradition of national identity and resistance in Ukraine - a different language, culture and politics," he said.
"Even if there is a ceasefire, I think Russia has lost Ukraine for a long, long, long time and has lost the West for a long time."
Get stories like this straight to your inbox with our newsletters.
