I’m horrified at the war in Ukraine, horrified at the loss of life, horrified at the bombardment, and horrified at the future. Ukrainian people are now going through absolute hell. They’re frightened of what may happen. Bombardment from the air and the arrival of tanks and other forces is terrifying. My thoughts are with the people of Ukraine. They deserve and should be able to live in peace in the future — as should the peoples of every other country of the world.

We have to apply political pressure on Russia and support the public pressure that’s there in Russia to end this war and to withdraw the Russian forces. And we should go back to the original agreements relating to Ukraine that were made in the Budapest and the later Minsk agreement, which was designed to bring about a long-term ceasefire. All wars end with a political solution. All wars end with dialogue. Why don’t we cut out the fighting zone and go straight into the talking zone?

It’s very easy for a politician in any parliament in the West to get up and say, “Go to war, go to war, go to war.” It’s always easy to vote for somebody else’s children to go to war and die. When a war takes place, there’s always a desire by the opposing sides to make sure it’s only their line and their story that gets out. And so, it’s truth that’s the first casualty in the fog of war.