Vast sums spent on military aid to prop up Ukraine better used to help our economy

✒ ANNE-MARIE Morris MP (HE, October 4) does not mention the recent appalling scenes of the Canadian Parliament and the Ukrainian president recently standing up and enthusiastically clapping a veteran Second World War Ukrainian German Nazi collaborator.

I believe politicians in the UK who are still currently supporting the Ukrainian war effort must surely begin to reflect and ask more pertinent questions, on what the war really is all about.

Both Ms Morris and Torbay MP Kevin Foster have described Russia as a “regime” and “greedy naked aggression”– akin to Nazi Germany. In fact, both the Russian Federation and Poland have demanded a formal explanation from Canada for this outrage and are considering an extradition warrant charge.

Historically, it has been estimated that during the Second World War Russia lost just over 30 million people fighting against German expansion. Russia, therefore, is naturally very concerned that modern Ukrainian neoNazi ultra-nationalists are leading the fight on their own doorstep.

I believe Ms Morris and Mr Foster appear to take the simple view that the UK must continue to invest in military support for Ukraine and that Nato and the EU must keep expanding towards Russia’s borders as a “deterrent”.

In reality, it appears British politicians are naively encouraging Ukrainians to keep poking the Russian bear. What can go wrong?

The Russian Federation takes the view that this kind of political rhetoric is Russophobia. Nato expanding beyond Germany’s borders is an existential threat for Russia because, primarily, Nato’s defensive weaponry can be converted into nuclear weapons which can be intentionally launched to reach Russiain a few minutes.

This is not enough time for Russia to reasonably respond accordingly to protect its own citizens.

Ms Morris alludes to F-16 fighter jets being sent to Ukraine. Russia fears these could be potentially armed with nuclear missiles.

Those in the West appear not to care about the highstakes risks as long as vast profits are to be made in the military industry.

The UK Government maintains Russia invaded Ukraine and that Ukrainians are heroically defending themselves and therefore British taxpayers must help keep sending billions of pounds’-worth of weapons to Ukraine.

Critics against the war say those billions should be used at home to invest in the NHS, public schools, local businesses and public transport.

The UK cannot afford to fund a war against Russia. At the very least, both Ms Morris and Mr Foster should focus on more pressing local issues.

Russia’s economy is, in fact, on the rise and has surpassed Germany’s economy – which is fast on the decline. The UK economy is also going downhill, due to high debt interest payments and higher mortgage rates. The massive sanctions championed by Ms Morris and placed on Russia have utterly failed.

Contrary to the MPs’ joint pro-war narratives, historically Russia has deep-rooted ties with Ukraine. There is no evidence historic, civilian cities of Ukraine are being levelled – rather, military targets and associated infrastructure.

If Russia had followed the West’s example in warfare, such as in Vietnam and Japan, where millions of bombs – and even two atom bombs – were used on innocent civilians then Ukraine would have ceased to exist long ago.

The real battle lines are in the Donbass region, where millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Mother Russia during 2022 (as they did in Crimea during 2014).

Russia says these regions are now legally part of the Russian Federation and is actively defending these areas from Ukrainian attacks since 2014 when an illegal, Western-backed coup d’etat ousted a democratically elected president who had wanted to remain economically tied with Russia.

Significantly, the Republican majority in the United States Congress has now indicated that sending of further billions of dollars of military aid to Ukraine is likely to end, and this may well be the forerunner to ending the war, forcing a permanent peaceful outcome.

Regarding the new blue circle road markings in the middle of Torbay Road, Paignton, I believe it is no coincidence that, had the rose-pink coloured ends been extended, it would have resembled the background of a Ukrainian national services patch. Even the double yellow parking lines appear to create the same yellow outline on the patch.

Peter Thorne

Paignton