It is perilous but we MUST stand firm against Putin

WITH Covid dominating the news it has been all too easy to lose sight of the events that are unfolding some 1,500 miles away in those distant borders of Eastern Europe.

- Marco Giannangeli

But, depending on the path Russian premier Vladimir Putin now takes over Ukraine, we may be on the cusp of Europe’s largest military conflict since 1945.

And those who say it isn’t Britain’s business should think about what is really at stake.

In a sense, Putin has already succeeded. His 150,000 troops on three sides of Ukraine’s borders have brought the West to the negotiating table, and placed him at the centre of diplomatic attention.

The fact that talks have so far ended in stalemate is due to the enormity of Putin’s ambition: to completely rewrite the post-Cold War settlement, transforming democratic nations into coasters upon which to plonk his influence.

At the same time, however, editors from some of the world’s biggest media outlets have decided this is the right moment to update their style guides. The Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Telegraph, the BBC and the Sunday Express have adopted the Ukrainian language derived “Kyiv” as their official spelling for the country’s capital city, replacing the Russianrooted “Kiev”, emphasising the sense of a Ukrainian identity.