The passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has affected all of us. I like all veterans have served under no other monarch. King Charles III is now our sovereign monarch and I’m positive our new king will lead our country into better and more peaceful times.

In early September the Ukrainian armed forces successfully struck back at the Russian invasion forces, re-taking Ukrainian sovereign territory, and holding it.

Putin has made a nationwide broadcast threatening the use of weapons of mass destruction, he has also put in place a call up for 300,000 troops. Here is a desperate despot whose allies are turning away from him and who’s military is losing ground daily. His troops are poorly trained, poorly equipped, and poorly re-supplied with food, water, and ammunition.

With continued support from the UK and the other NATO countries, Ukrainian troops will maintain their momentum and force Russian troops to withdraw beyond the Ukrainian border. It is imperative the UK maintains its logistic support for the Ukraine to ensure this war comes to an end sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile in the UK, an estimated 4,200 veterans are still homeless and with the coming cold winter, face increasingly difficult times.

The government should make the welfare and housing of these men and women a priority, a stated UK Independence Party policy.

I will follow with interest what the new Minister of State for the Armed Forces and Veterans, Conservative MP James Heappy, of eight years military service will do for these veterans and the armed forces as a whole but forgive me if I do not hold my breath.

Squadron Leader Peter Richardson Retd.

The UK Independence Party – Spokesman for Defence and Veterans Affairs

Image: RushDM, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons