As Russia flails, the free world must not waver in its support for Ukraine

SIR – You report (September 20) that the Russian nationalist Igor Girkin has suggested that further military defeats could “finish” Vladimir Putin.

If he is correct, it is imperative that the nations of Nato immediately deliver more military supplies to Ukraine. A rapid increase in Russian casualties might help to alter the mindset of the Russian people.

As the regular Russian military is no match for the Ukrainian army, the reservists will be walked over. Time is of the essence.

Angus Jacobsen

Montrose, Angus

SIR – Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent requests for more weapons are reminiscent of Winston Churchill’s famous remark to the Americans in February 1941: “Give us the tools and we will finish the job.”

If Western allies, including Germany, respond as positively as President Roosevelt did then and Liz Truss has done now, can there be any doubt that the brave Ukrainian forces will soon reclaim the territory that has been taken from them?

Dr Charles Hanson

Carlisle, Cumbria

SIR – Not counting the 900,000 Ukrainians estimated to have been forcibly relocated to Russia, it may be true that those who have fled there during this conflict and the earlier one in Donbas would be likely to vote for the unification of eastern parts of Ukraine with Russia, were they to return. However, their numbers are dwarfed by those who fled west or were displaced into other areas still under Ukrainian control.

Russia has, effectively, ethnically and politically “cleansed” the areas of Ukraine it has occupied since 2014, and those who might have voted to stay have been forced out. Any “referendums” that the Russians now hold are shams, and any country that recognises them will make itself party to the crimes that underpin them. Victor Launert

Matlock Bath, Derbyshire

SIR – Vladimir Putin will declare chunks of Ukraine to be parts of the Russian nation state.

Whether or not that helps Putin’s cause, it should remind us that, before the Russian invasion, it might have been helpful to the Ukrainians if Nato had declared Ukraine a member, with associated Nato protection.

Indeed, before the Russian invasion, why did Joe Biden and Nato announce that there would be no direct military engagement, were Russia to invade?

After all, a few days ago, President Biden happily committed the United States to defending Taiwan militarily against any invasion by the People’s Republic of China.

Peter Cave

London W1

SIR – The Russian people must surely realise by now that their deranged president has his ferocious grip on the wrong end of the stick.

Ian Burley