Putin wants to see support crumble

Sir, – Recovery of the city of Kherson is a major triumph for Ukraine and a setback for Russia.

For some time, Ukraine has been slowly gaining the

upper hand in the south leading Vladimir Putin to appoint General Surovikin, responsible for the barrelbombing of Syrian cities, as his commander-in-chief.

Tactics have become increasingly nasty with missile strikes on civilian housing and now infrastructure like electricity and water.

Many of those contravene the accepted norms of warfare and constitute war crimes.

Ukraine is rapidly running out of tanks, ammunition and heavy artillery but, particularly, air defence systems to combat enemy missiles and drones.

Economic and military support has varied widely among Nato’s European allies. The UK is contributing all the money and weapons it can.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy, promises much but delivers relatively little.

France, Italy and Germany are all giving less than 0.1% of their separate GDPs whereas little Latvia gives 0.8%.

President Putin is playing a long game hoping that the expense will cause support among the Nato allies to crumble.

But the war is not just a struggle for Ukraine’s freedom but a proxy for the conflict between democracy and dictatorship.

We let Putin prevail at our peril.

Dr Walter J MacCulloch. Causewayend Crescent, Aberchirder.