Above centre Polina who has been killed by Russian troops – end the killing now

Like so many people I am shocked by the way our Government, NATO, the UN, the USA and the EU are failing to use force – or the threat of force – to stop the slaughter in Ukraine by the Russian State.

Ukraine wants the world to intervene to save lives, protect its democracy and the destruction of the country by bombs, rockets and tanks by the Russian armed forces directed by Putin.

There must be another policy other than the one adopted by all of the above: to continue to hide behind the excuse that if they intervene it will be World War Three. Stop telling Russia what we won’t do and put on the agenda what we may do. Putin is terrified of NATO. It is time to stop appeasing the dictator – the mistake Britain made in 1938 – and start setting the agenda to make Putin guess what we will do next.

A no-fly zone? A huge Ukrainian Foreign League complete with state of the art weapons and an air force? A humanitarian zone covering west Ukraine guarded by NATO peace keepers? A threat to attack any Russian unit, soldier or general, thought guilty of war crimes? There are many possible options – but please – no more hiding like cowards behind Article 5 – drawn up 72 years ago after World War 2. It was a different world then – this is now – this is the start of World War Three and it will be Moldova, Finland and Sweden next.

The British Government has been pathetic so far. Yes, they have sent arms to Ukraine, but they continually use World War 3 as a reason not to stop the killing. The Foreign Sectary Liz Truss has endorsed British civilians with no military training taking part in fighting the Russians but not our armed forces. Insanity. It’s time for action – it’s time to accept Putin must be stopped – not by sanctions but by bullets. No more ‘I stand with Ukraine’ and saying ‘how brave the Ukrainians are’ or praising Zelenskyy for his leadership. It’s time to end the madness and save the lives of thousands of people and protect democracy in Europe.

Harry Mottram

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