IF I were the Prime Minister, I would not be so quick to dismiss Vladimir Putin's threat to use the nuclear option ("Putin raises stakes with nuclear alert", The Herald, February 28).

President Putin's army is taking casualties, seeing elements of its military equipment destroyed and losing the momentum behind its advance. Little did he realise how spirited the Ukrainian resistance would be. And where he thought the West would be supine and just roll over to allow his takeover, it has presented a more united front on sanctions and provision of armaments for Ukraine.

Meanwhile protests are being seen on the streets of Russia.

It is the way the Ukrainians have stood up to the might of the Russian military which has stiffened the backbone of the West, which now seems to understand that the Ukrainians' fight for their freedom is also our fight for freedom and a stand must now be taken.

It might be pragmatic if the West backed down in the face of turning this conflict nuclear, but it would be craven to do so, since that threat will eventually have to be confronted if we believe in the principle of a free world.

For making us see that this conflict is central to our belief system, we have to thank Ukrainians for showing their indefatigable courage against tyranny and we must go out of our way to restore their way of life to maintain our own.

Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs.

WE MUST MOBILISE NUCLEAR WEAPONS

THE threat by Vladimir Putin to raise the nuclear stakes must be met by a robust move by all western nuclear powers to mobilise their weapons. Anything less will be seen as a sign of weakness by him.

The people of Russia need to know that if President Putin launches weapons then the attack will be met with a vigorous response on Russia that will see cities destroyed and millions of lives lost.

The destruction of Chernobyl had a long-term effect on parts of Europe and indeed sheep hill farms in Scotland suffered for years. An attack on Ukraine with nuclear weapons will be devastating for those countries immediately bordering Ukraine, including Belarus, an allied nation of Mr Putin, but Europe and the UK will also experience nuclear fallout.

If the UK did not have a nuclear arsenal then we would be totally hostage to the lunacy of politicians who believe that they can invade and take over countries at will. The comparison of Vladimir Putin with Hitler is absolutely valid and appeasement of Hitler led to the deaths of millions. The SNP must now see the folly of wanting to remove nuclear weapons, a policy that would be welcomed by the likes of Putin and leave the country vulnerable.

Hopefully the generals and oligarchs that support Mr Putin will recognise that the current moves will result in their own destruction and loss of power and remove him from office on a permanent basis.

Bill Eadie, Giffnock.

* FOR most of my 74 years I've believed there was no point to the UK having a nuclear capability. I was wrong. The example of Ukraine has convinced me. As long as leaders prepared to wage expansionist war exist no country offering them any gain is safe from current weapons technology. Of course the UK would not survive a concerted attack by a major power, nuclear or otherwise, but I now believe we should retain the ability to at least inflict a vicious nuclear sting as the lights go out.

JA Smith, Dunblane.

WE MUST STOP TRIDENT

“ROSSIYA protiv voiny” was the cry from many thousands of ordinary people gathered on the Nevsky Prospect in St Petersburg, a place especially dear to me. When I saw the people on my screen, and heard their voices raised in protest, I felt a glimmer of hope.

“Russia is against war” was what they were chanting, and because I knew this to be true I felt this small but powerful surge of optimism. I know that ordinary decent Russians share the revulsion and horror that we are feeling in Scotland and all over the world at the terror in Ukraine.

As appreciation of the enormity of what Vladimir Putin has unleashed spreads, resistance inside Russia will also inevitably grow. The sea of suffering, pain and death which this man has unleashed on the people of Ukraine will eventually sweep him away. But how much pain and death must be suffered, how many children must cry before he goes?

But “Russia is against war” as is every sane person in every country. I know this to be true. But I have to especially remind myself of this, when I go with the Catholic Worker to Faslane on Ash Wednesday (March 2), as we do regularly.

We will go to publicly repent of our willingness to unleash suffering and death on an unimaginable scale. And because we have already consented to this in our hearts, we have already done so. Hence the need for repentance.

But repentance means metanoia, a change of heart. We must stop doing the evil we are daily doing.

We must stop Trident.

Brian Quail, Glasgow.

UKRAINE ALONE CANNOT WIN

PRESIDENT Putin is, as we know, at the heart of the current crisis in Ukraine, as he was with the annexation of Crimea in 2014. He has long held ambitions on reinstating Ukraine back into the Russian Federation and used Crimea as a trial run for the current endeavour to gauge the response of the United Nations, Nato and the EU. He has now seriously expanded his own rules on this game of chicken by adding in the surely unthinkable threat of a nuclear option.

There have been many comments in the media that Vladimir Putin has become unhinged from any sense of the repercussions with his current and future-threatening lines of action. Any direct military action from Europe or the Americas in any part of Ukraine is only going to fuel the flames of this conflict further and lose any possible further support from within the Russian population and military to end the invasion.

Despite any current and proposed future sanctions, which only appear to have infuriated Mr Putin even further, the world is only left now with the hope that he and his enclave are taken down from within. Beyond brave as its people are, Ukraine on its own, even with military supplies sent with constantly increasing difficulty, will fall against a far superior military force, with devastating consequences for its population.

George Dale, Beith.

LESSON FOR THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE

TIM Cox (Letters, February) is wrong on Nato. Vladimir Putin has used Russian concern about the advancement of Nato, but has not manufactured it. Over a number of years I have been engaged in discussions with highly intelligent, cosmopolitan Russian experts in foreign policy, outside of government, and all have expressed the view that Nato advancement is a matter of prime concern for Russian security. I have every reason to believe that they reflect the opinion of the Russian population.

Mr Putin is not immortal and he will in due course disappear, but the issue on which he has launched the war crime of aggression through invasion – that fundamental issue of Russian state security – will not go with him, and will have to be addressed if overall European peace and stability is to be secured.

As for President Putin, we must hope that the Russian people will reflect upon the deep flaws in their political system which enable one individual to alter the constitution to suit his convenience, and allows one man to rule for more than 20 years and act as though he was a new Tsar. Perhaps that will be a lesson they draw from the present mad policy.

Jim Sillars, Edinburgh.

Read more: West will have to allay Russia's fears over Nato expansion