Stand firm for the sake of the kids
If you want to see the future for Ukraine, just look into the eyes of the three children on our front page today – clutching their cuddly toys for comfort. Sacha is only four but he has already suffered too much war and wants to keep the peace as a police officer when he grows up.
As bodies lie broken in her homeland, fouryear-old Anne’s ambition is to be a doctor so she can devote her life to mending them.
And Philomena, three, hopes to become a therapist in a country so traumatised it will need as many as it can get.
This is the generation which will be tasked with building the new Ukraine. And the longer the destruction goes on, the bigger the task they will have on their hands.
Frustrated at the lack of progress his forces are making, Vladimir Putin is bombing everything in sight. It does not matter to him whether the targets are military or civilian.
The Smerch rocket which landed in the bird enclosure of Mykolaiv Zoo had no military justification, unless the deranged Putin now thinks even peacocks are a threat.
REBUILD
And if the Russian president carries on with his war crimes against the civilian population these children will have to rebuild Ukraine from scratch.
Volodymyr Zelensky has asked for direct peace talks with Putin, emboldened by Ukrainian defence forces annihilating 233 tanks and 10% of Russia’s invasion force.
But of all people, the Ukrainian leader knows that while he might hope for the best he must prepare for the worst. Unless agreement can be reached, Ukraine will be in for a long war of attrition, with both sides bogged down and neither able to get the upper hand.
It will be all the more important then for the West to stay firm.
To keep supplying the weapons and aid relief Ukraine will desperately need.
It is welcome that Germany has given up its long-standing position of a passive onlooker regarding world conflicts and is now actively supporting Ukraine.
The boost in its defence spending from 1.5% to 2% will be a boon to NATO.
All the more important for those like Labour’s Dr Rosena Allin-Khan to take her A&E skills to the front line. If ever there was a case for an MP having a second job, then it is humanitarian work such as this.
It will also be all the more important for China to stay out of this war and not feed Putin’s aggression.
Now it has an economy 10 times larger than Russia’s, President Xi has every reason to stay on the sidelines to preserve it.
And we, too, must be steadfast.
The ravaging of Ukraine, Europe’s breadbasket, has already pushed wheat prices up by 40%. Gas will follow, and there may be shortages later this year.
The resolve of the brave people of Ukraine is undiminished despite the horrors they are put through. Ours must be, too. Sacha, Anne and Philomena are depending on it.