Stand together
PUTIN’S deranged war on his neighbour is a catastrophic failure.
But he can still pull a victory from the jaws of defeat if the West’s unity crumbles. It must not.
Ukraine must feel no pressure to surrender – we must back heroic Zelensky[/caption]
The Russian madman predicted his supposedly mighty military would conquer Ukraine in days, cheered on by grateful locals liberated from “Nazis” the Kremlin made up.
It was a monumental blunder. In three months he has destroyed Russia’s global standing and its economy and seen up to 30,000 of his troops killed.
His army stands exposed as an amateurish rabble of brainwashed, racist cut-throats and rapist cowards. It is mocked worldwide for its ineptitude.
READ MORE ON UKRAINE WAR
Russia is isolated and ruined. What can Putin do now?
He could plough on against well-armed, highly motivated Ukrainian forces, sending thousands more conscripted Russian boys to their doom until his final humiliating defeat.
In desperation he could nuke Kyiv and lose even his last remaining allies, such as China, while risking a Kremlin coup.
Or he could announce victory, inform Russia’s gullible population that he has already won all the territory he sought, then offer President Zelensky a bogus peace deal which maintains the Kremlin’s stranglehold on Ukraine’s economy.
Most read in The Sun
That indeed seems to be the plan.
And some Western leaders will be itching to urge Zelensky to accept.
The EU’s Macron and Scholz are flaky. They care only for their own economies.
The tougher resolve of Boris Johnson and others must prevail. It is vital President Biden feels the same. Putin is a murderer and a snake. Not one word can be trusted, whatever he offers.
Ukraine has fought heroically. It alone must determine when all this ends.
Zelensky must feel no pressure to surrender anything, not the Donbas, not even Crimea, to cut German utility bills.
The West must not falter. Putin’s butchery must reap no reward.
We must back Zelensky as one, with words and arms.
Chilling rise
IF they aren’t already, energy bills will be apocalyptic by October.
Millions will be unable to keep warm once the price cap soars to £2,800.
This is a global problem caused by the war, but it falls to the Government to get us through it. We now know how bad it will get. It is time for Rishi Sunak to act.
The Tories’ fate hinges not on parties — but on this.
Debs’ defiance
IMAGINE being unable to sleep for fear you will never wake.
Such is life now for our own Dame Deborah James.
But still she smiles, thinks of others and talks up the Bowelbabe cause for which she has raised millions.
What a woman.
