As we remember Victory Day, I have immense respect, of course, for the Allied forces of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the USA and take pride in their achievements in contributing to the defeat of Hitler and Imperial Japan. Soldiers on all sides do evil things. But Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were evil regimes that had to be defeated. Today, with war raging in Ukraine, we should remember that, in war, it’s always the poor and innocent who suffer most.

When a small group of Ukrainian troops paraded through London on Tuesday as part of the VE Day celebrations, it occurred to me how quickly we forget the lessons of World War II, having said never again. As we commemorate, today, the end of World War II, there is a political consensus here in Britain that the killing should continue in Europe, even though Ukraine cannot win.

Shakespeare’s line to ‘let slip the dogs of war’ represents a cry for vengeance by Marc Antony after Caesar’s murder. War requires the putting aside of compassion to kill the hated enemy. To release the baying dog inside of our warriors.

During World War II, or the Great Patriotic War as it’s called in Russia, the allied effort, led by forces of Great Britain, America, and the Soviet Union, faced the monumental task of defeating the expansionist forces of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

On VE Day, or Victory Day as it is known in Russia, we commemorate, or should, the end of killing and the slow reestablishment of civilised relations. We also remember our own heroes, like my great uncles, one of whom was killed in a sinking prisoner of war ship off the coast of China, and the other, who survived being shot down over France, escaping back to Britain with the help of the Resistance. Victory marks the moment the dogs of war were put back on the chain and the broken service personnel can begin to........

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