Sir, – Further to “Ukraine must grasp peace from jaws of unwinnable war” (Geoffrey Roberts, Opinion & Analysis, July 13th), it is galling to observe western commentators lecture Ukraine, from the safety of their stable and peaceful homes, about prosecuting the “unwinnable war” foisted upon it. It is even more galling to lecture them about accepting peace terms that are not even on offer.– Yours, etc,
BRIAN HUGHES,
Wexford.
Sir, – In his helpful advice to a Ukrainian sovereign nation currently under brutal assault, Geoffrey Roberts echoes the suggestions of some other commentators recently that Volodymyr Zelenskiy should request peace terms from a rogue state with openly stated expansionist designs on its neighbours. It is surprising that as an historian, he fails to reflect on a very similar “territory for peace” settlement that was offered to Edouard Benes, president of Czechoslovakia, in September 1938. This “peace” lasted for precisely six months before the entire country was taken over. – Is mise,
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RAY McCARTHY,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – If I were a Martian and read Geoffrey Roberts detailed opinion piece on the current war in Ukraine, I would consider it to be concise and descriptive. If I were a Ukrainian, I would ask myself does the writer know which country invaded which and why power-mad resentful billionaires who live a gilded existence hundreds of miles away want to kill me, my family and my neighbours. – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Dublin 24.
Sir, – Prof Geoffrey Roberts in his opinion piece says Vladimir Putin has never “denied Ukraine’s right to independence and sovereignty” and claims his aims are limited to the Donbas and southern Ukraine. Perhaps Prof Roberts could explain, in that case, why, in the first days of the war, the Russian army made a beeline for Kyiv? In Putin’s rambling “essay” of July 21st last year (available in English on the Kremlin website), he said Russia and Ukraine were “one people – a single whole”?
It is clear he envisages Ukraine as, at best, a puppet state of the Russian Federation under his control.
Almost four million Russians have left Russia in 2022, and it’s not hard to see why. No one wants to live under sleazy and brutish authoritarianism. If the best and brightest Russians are wanting out of Putin’s regime, why would any Ukrainian want in? – Yours, etc,
PAUL WILLIAMS,
Kilkee,
Co Clare.