We are deeply concerned about the escalation in Ukraine. In response to British-made Storm Shadow missiles fired into Kursk (Report, 20 November), just days after Ukraine used the US’s army tactical missile systems (Atacms) to attack Bryansk, reports indicate that Russia has now launched intercontinental missiles into southern Ukraine. This rapid escalation seriously threatens an all-out military confrontation with Russia and Nato. The risk of a nuclear attack cannot be ruled out.

The British government has to take responsibility for its actions and these terrible consequences. With hundreds of thousands already killed and injured, securing an end to this horrific conflict is crucial. We call on Joe Biden and Keir Starmer to halt this escalation and secure talks with Russia and Ukraine. Diplomacy and dialogue, not military escalation, are the only viable paths to a peaceful settlement in the region.
Diane Abbott MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Ayoub Khan MP, Shockat Adam MP, Iqbal Mohamed MP, Adnan Hussain MP, Brian Eno, Alex Gordon President, RMT, Fran Heathcote General secretary, PCS, Sophie Bolt General secretary, CND, Lindsey German Convener, Stop the War Coalition

Simon Jenkins states that “Putin is an isolated dictator” (The west’s reckless escalation of the war in Ukraine will cause more suffering, for no strategic gain, 21 November). Nonsense. Russia is receiving huge shipments of military supplies from Iran and North Korea, and the latter has 10,000 troops engaged in the war. There is open diplomatic and economic support from China, which is supplying Russia with electronic components that are being converted to military use. And moral support from the Brics nations, which covertly want to see democracy in Europe weakened.

Russia and China are pushing for a new world order in which repressive nations like themselves dominate. And a victory for Russia in the Ukraine war would give them a huge boost, and pave the way for future wars of aggression.

Jenkins says Putin “has succeeded, as in the Caucasus, in establishing a buffer statelet on his border. It must be the moment for compromise in the cause of peace.” But Russia had already achieved this by 2014, with his illegal annexation of Crimea and the Donbas region, and still launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. So why would it settle for having exactly what it had before the war? That would be a public humiliation. And given Russia’s long history of breaking agreements that it signs – such as the Budapest memorandum and the Minsk accords – who could trust it to honour any future agreements?
Laurie Farnum
Chessington, London

Simon Jenkins offers a lot of criticism of the west’s handling of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, suggesting that the “too little, too late” support of Ukraine is somehow escalating an invasion carried out by Russians who are committing thousands of war crimes.

Between 2014 and 2022, the west’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was nonexistent. This undoubtedly bolstered Russia’s belief that it could continue invading with impunity in 2022. And Ukraine was persuaded by the west in the 1990s to relinquish its nuclear weapons to the very state that is now illegally invading it.

I guess doing absolutely nothing to support a sovereign nation being invaded by its neighbour, which threatens to use nuclear weapons, is what Jenkins considers a shining example of the west’s “special duty to behave responsibly in a crisis”.
Alex Hetmanczuk
Burlington, Ontario, Canada