Hero is back on front line for freedom

EIGHT years ago, Volodymyr Parasiuk told thousands who had packed into Kyiv’s Independence Square: “We are not going away.”

He was part of the Maidan Revolution and believed his actions had finally brought peace to the country.

Now he is back on the front line. Fighting again for Ukraine. Fighting for freedom.

A freedom so hard won it cannot be allowed to be snatched away by a power-hungry despot.

Like thousands of his fellow Ukrainians, Parasiuk will fight to the last. We applaud him.

We also applaud all those in this bitter fight against oppression and stand with them as they stare the monstrous Putin and his hordes of killers down.

But where will we be in another eight years? Will this massacre be rumbling on? How many will be widowed or orphaned? Will those desperate people who have fled have returned home?

And what will their country look like? We only need to see the smouldering ruins of Damascus, the disaster of Kabul, to appreciate what could lie ahead.

If we are to stop the darkest of futures our response now is key.

The British people have come through again, opening homes to refugees. But we must do more.

It’s going to be tough. The Russians may well make life difficult for us. Energy prices, cyber-attacks, threats to our way of life. Putin is crazed. Powermad. He will stop at nothing.

We need to stand firm and support a government that should be doing everything it can to help Kyiv. That means aid and weapons if necessary. Whatever form support should take.

The Ukrainians are fighting for their country - but this fight is more than that. This is a global fight against tyranny, for freedom and or our values.