Letter to the Editor: It is almost a year ago that Russia invaded Ukraine – but the conflict really began in 2014 when ethnic Ukrainian nationalists overthrew the elected president of the country Victor Yanakovitch and accused him of being a corrupt Russian puppet.

Pro-Russian areas in the east of the country next to Russia opposed this and a civil war began. 

Civil Wars are always the most bitter of conflicts and it has seen atrocities on both sides. 

Pretending that this is ‘goodies versus baddies’ will do nothing to resolve the conflict.

A few weeks ago the USA changed its nuclear terms of reference so that for the first time it could allow for a ‘pre-emptive’ strike. 

This (it was argued) was in case it had reason to believe that nuclear weapons were going to be used by another party which meant that it could destroy ‘enemy’ launch sites. It is – of course – a combination of bluster and science fiction nonsense which would almost certainly lead to nuclear escalation.

But what it does tell us is that we are ALL on the front line now. 

There are dozens of targets in Gloucestershire – not least GCHQ in Cheltenham. It is therefore in our interests to have this conflict stopped as soon as possible.

A negotiated settlement which takes into account the positions of all sides is the only way to resolve this conflict otherwise the carnage will continue. Peace for Ukraine should be our New Year’s resolution.

John Webster, Lydbrook