Letter - July 2024

[your address]

 

Dear [name of your MP]

 

I hope this letter finds you well. First of all, congratulations on being elected as our constituency MP. I am writing to you as your constituent and as someone who cares deeply about Ukraine.

 

I would like to express my concern regarding Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine, and as my Member of Parliament, I urge your continued support to help Ukraine achieve a decisive and lasting victory against Russian aggression.

 

Russia’s war against Ukraine poses an existential threat to the whole rules-based order. The only way to stop the unprecedented violence is to provide Ukraine with the most comprehensive military and training package to ensure Russian defeat once and for all. We can no longer dither in our support for Ukraine. Dithering over Ukraine is making a broader European conflict more, not less, likely.

 

The Government must facilitate the provision of more air defence systems to Ukraine, to stop Russia’s indiscriminate bombing of civilians. Ukraine also requires modern jets to strengthen its air and missile defences, to save lives, and to protect Ukrainian civilians. I ask you to convey my sentiments to the Secretary of State for Defence.

 

I also call on you to write to the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs to do all he can to help facilitate the release of Ukrainian Prisoners of War, held in Russia under inhumane conditions and to help with lobbying for the return of thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

 

There can be no justice for Ukrainians without full accountability for all crimes committed by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in 2014. The UK must work together with its allies to expedite an ICC (International Criminal Court) investigation into Russian war crimes in Ukraine, and to bring war criminals to justice. 

 

Currently only a few states around the world have criminalised ecocide. Ukrainian nature is the invisible victim of Russia’s aggression. Russia’s destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in Ukraine has been catastrophic for the environment and will mean that parts of nature are 'lost forever, I ask you to write to the UK Government, calling on them to actively propose an amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to recognise ecocide as a crime. 

 

The UK officially banned the import of Russian oil products from 5 December 2022. However, a loophole in the legislation has allowed Russian oil to continue to flow into the UK. Please advocate for the closing of the “refining loophole,” which allows countries to import oil products produced from Russian oil at refineries in third countries. Lieutenant General (Retired) Ben Hodges stated recently that money from the sale of Russian oil, through third countries is what paid for the recent missile that “slammed into the Children’s Cancer Hospital in Kyiv.”

 

With the right support and approach, the United Kingdom can help Ukraine win. Victory means the full liberation of Ukraine’s territories illegally occupied by Russia since 2014.

 

Anything short of a full Ukrainian victory and a full Russian defeat will give Russia the time to regroup and rearm, and attack again in the future. We must not allow it.

 

Best regards,

[your name]