We should stand firm against him

Today we salute the bravery of the Ukrainian people as they struggle to repel the biggest invasion of their country since 1941. Their sacrifices in the name of freedom are heartbreaking, humbling, but inspiring.

And it is the duty of every civilised nation to do all we can to help them.

The air raid sirens wailing over Kyiv 80 years ago warned against Nazi attacks, not Russian ones. But if Vladimir Putin objects to being compared with brutal dictator Adolf Hitler, he has only himself to blame.

Like Hitler, Putin’s word cannot be trusted. Like Hitler, he promised peace while all the while being intent on war.

Like Hitler, Putin cares nothing for independence and liberty as he attempts to recreate an empire.

And like Hitler, he plans to subjugate a sovereign nation with all the force and brutality at his disposal.

Just as we faced down Hitler, we must face up to another dictator determined to destroy the freedoms we hold so dear.

And we must do it without sleepwalking into a Third World War.

Boris Johnson compared this invasion with that of Czechoslovakia in 1938. This time there must be no appeasement.

That occupation set off a chain of events that took six years of horrifying war and 50 million deaths to resolve.

HORRORS

Ukraine must regain its rightful independence sooner than that but, nevertheless, we must be prepared to be in this for the long haul.

Now that Putin has chosen the path of war, he has to win it, and we dread to imagine the horrors that might unleash.

That means we must throw open our doors to Ukrainian refugees who appeal to us for a safe haven and might even want to stay here.

We are told such a resettlement programme is being prepared. But, as always in Whitehall, the wheels are moving despairingly slowly.

Ireland has waived the need for visas for Ukrainians. The Irish will get them to safety first and worry about the paperwork later. We should follow that example.

Now it is incumbent on the rest of the world to isolate Russia as the pariah state it is. Even Putin’s traditional ally, China, has shown a certain ambivalence to the tyrant’s actions.

It abstained on the UN resolution to condemn Putin for the invasion – a promising result rather than a great one.

President Xi of China is the one man who might persuade Putin to withdraw and he should make every effort do so.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world must put a stranghold of sanctions around the Russian state. And NATO must stand firm and resolute.

The borders of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are the NATO red line.

Putin must be left under no illusion about the lethal consequences of crossing it.

And if the Russian people are as truly opposed to this war as they appear to be, there is only one course of action open to them: to topple the man who caused it.