Letter - February 2024

[your address]

 

Dear [name of your MP]

 

I hope you’re well. I’m writing to you on the two year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

 

I am grateful for the support that the United Kingdom has already provided to Ukraine. We have now reached a pivotal moment in the war. Along with her allies, the UK needs to do whatever it takes to provide Ukraine with the necessary assistance, to ensure Ukraine wins.

 

The former Head of M16, Sir Richard Dearlove, recently warned that the UK needs to “change its attitude and accept there is a major war going on in Europe.” It is with this concern that I write to you.

 

If Russia is allowed to prevail, it will present a clear danger to the rest of Europe. It will have a military economy, a replenished stockpile of weapons and an experienced and hardened army, which has no qualms about committing war crimes. Moreover, it will have a strong sense of impunity.

 

The number of Russian troops currently active in Ukraine amounts to over 400,000. Russia has a bigger military presence now than it had in 2022, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

 

Last year, according to Chargé d’affaires Eduard Fesko at the Ukrainian Embassy in London, there were over 6000 air alerts in Ukraine. Russia launched over 7000 missiles. At the beginning of 2024, Ukraine lived through one of the biggest aerial attacks since World War II. The weapons used in 7th February barrage alone cost an estimated $430 million.

 

The cost of all Russia’s missile attacks on Ukraine since the start of the invasion until October totaled $22.8 billion. The cost to Ukrainian infrastructure damage came to $151 billion. And Russia’s military budget for 2022-23 dwarfed that of Ukraine – it spent approximately 5 times more over the same period (UN Comstat/Tortoise Research).

 

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have been systematic, deliberate and serve a clear purpose – inflicting terror on Ukraine’s civilian population. It has attacked civilian infrastructure, including schools, private residential houses, hospitals and railway stations.

 

The killing of civilians, torture, and disappearances are part of a deliberate strategy to terrorise the local population and rid the territories of  Ukrainian resistance.

 

This month the number of recorded war crimes in Ukraine passed 125,000. By all accounts, this is a staggering number that increases every day, sometimes by the hundreds, and stands for thousands of destroyed lives.

 

Air defence, artillery, and anti-armor systems are existential requirements for Ukraine.

 

Ukraine is fighting, not only to exist, but for everything that we claim to believe in - our freedoms, our democracy, our hard-fought rights and aspirations. Let’s give Ukraine the support it needs. We should:

 

1.     Expedite the delivery of additional air defence systems and ammunition to Ukraine.,

2.     Provide Ukraine with combat drones of all types.

3.     Provide Ukraine with long range missiles of 300km+ range.

4.     Approve the use of frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine.

5.     Isolate Russian diplomats in relevant capitals and at international organisations.

 

As your constituent, and as a friend of Ukraine, I urge you to make my voice heard in parliament. Ukraine deserves more than warm words. It deserves our complete solidarity, our full military and humanitarian backing and, looking ahead, justice for the war crimes perpetrated against them.

 

Best regards,

[your name]