Sir, – World leaders seem to be afraid of the threats made by Russian president Vladimir Putin that he will escalate the conflict if further support is given to Ukraine.
Rather than consider Mr Putin a leader of a sovereign country, let’s think of him as a schoolyard bully. The schoolyard bully typically takes on what he considers to be the weakest in the yard – in this case Ukraine. If he gets away with it, he will continue to bully. However, if challenged, he will back down.
Mr Putin continues to challenge the West’s desire to help Ukraine by threatening escalation of the war. In my view, this is a hollow threat.
When he invaded Ukraine two years ago, he thought he would get away with it based on the response to his earlier invasion of Crimea. He thought his invasion would be successful within days. This proved not to be the case.
Let’s call his bluff and give Ukraine everything they are asking for, including the ability to use long-range weapons to target Russian critical infrastructure. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN MURPHY,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.