Ukraine showed Putin what it means to defend from aggression

THE recent letter from Ernest Skidmore is greatly detached from reality. The hard fact is: Russia invaded Ukraine, not the other way around.

Let’s not fall for Russian spin, propaganda and lies suggesting otherwise.

Putin doesn’t think Ukraine has the right to exist as a sovereign nation. That is why he attacked. He thought, wrongly, that it would all be over in two to three days. The Lions of Ukraine showed him what it means to defend freedom from Russian aggression.

Look at all the knocked-out Russian tanks and the terrified Russian conscripts and pilots who dare not fly low.

The Ukrainians are doing what we would do in the face of barbarous aggression – defending themselves and their families. Incredibly, they are holding their own.

Putin fears a free and democratic Ukraine because if it becomes more Western, then Russians in Russia will start wondering about change.

Putin fears that. He is ex-KGB, remember. He hates the West, he hates the rule of law, he hates a free press. He hates newspapers like the Post and he hates your freedom to read this.

Mariupol is a reminder of what the Russian leaders think of free citizens. They have pummelled it because they could not defeat the Ukrainian army in a normal fight.

Mariupol is a city the size of Bristol; it has been reduced to rubble by Russian shelling of civilian targets. Imagine Bristol laid to waste and peaceful civilians murdered. That’s what Russia is doing. No wonder the Ukrainians are fighting back hard. The new western artillery and weapons will level the fighting field, and the Russians are going to find out what free people defending themselves can do. All free citizens support Ukraine in its fight.

TJ Martin Bristol