Leaders need to cool it – if the nukes come out Covid will seem like small fry

The recent request by President Biden asking Congress for $33bn to support Ukraine in the current conflict with Russia makes it blatantly obvious that talking would be cheaper than warring – also less hurtful on the most vulnerable members on each side of the conflict, whether they are Ukrainian or Russian.

The calamity the world is currently confronting demands a prompt and effective initiative. So what’s preventing the United Nations, of which Russia is one of the five founding members, inviting all the leaders in the world to a meeting with both the leaders of Russia and Ukraine present and negotiate a solution to the conflict that is acceptable to the warring parties?

My cynical side makes me believe that in many countries there exist oligarchs who can add more to their already overflowing coffers by creating a market for weapons of war. Furthermore profits can be made from the clean-up and rebuilding when conflict ends.

Should nuclear weapons eventually be introduced to this conflict our concern about climate change and Covid will soon become minor issues.

Leaders of the world please get your act together before it becomes too late, cease senseless rhetoric, behave responsibly and start talking in unison on a solution to this conflict that is inflicting such extreme hurt on innocent people and will continue to rain intolerable lasting damage on all the economies of the world for years to come.

Patrick Murray, Dundrum, Dublin