To members of Parliament, the news that Russian soldiers are fighting alongside mercenaries in Eastern Ukraine is very disturbing.

President Vladimir Putin's denials of not assisting his paid mercenaries no longer hold water.

Ukraine is facing an invasion by Russian troops, supposedly on holiday.

The situation is very grave, whether for Ukrainians or Europeans. Sanctions seem not to be working and the regime in Moscow has acquired selective deafness.

Could you please, as a matter of extreme urgency, make representations to the Prime Minister's Office, the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Minister? Ukrainian soldiers, professional and volunteers, and civilians are dying defending Ukraine against this invasion.

It is not an incursion, it is not troops lost 25kms inside the Ukrainian border; it is an invasion of Russian forces under the control of Putin. Ukraine is a sovereign state. Russia has declared war on its neighbour, Ukraine.

The west cannot and should not sit idly by, it needs to act, and act decisively, against Putin and Russia.

Please assist Ukraine and Ukrainians in our hour of need.

Yaroslaw Tymchyshyn Community Officer Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, Bolton Branch