Leader: West must develop new energy sources

Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. The horrifying images that have emerged in recent days of mass graves and massacres, hands tied behind the backs of lifeless victims, can leave no one in any doubt over the scale of his depravity.

There will be no negotiations with Putin. The Russian leader recently claimed his goal in central Ukraine has been achieved and that his ambitions never extended to gaining control of the capital Kyiv.

This is nothing more than sour grapes, a feeble attempt to save face after coming up against heroic Ukrainian resistance.

It seems Putin’s new strategy is to use Crimea and Donbas as bargaining chips in peace talks with the West, but there can be no peace talks with him at the table.

A Ukrainian servicemen check streets for booby traps in the formerly Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha, near Kyiv. As Russian forces pull back from Ukraine's capital region, retreating troops are creating a "catastrophic" situation for civilians by leaving mines around homes, abandoned equipment and "even the bodies of those killed," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned Saturday.

The West must also roundly reject Putin’s demand that countries pay for Russian gas in roubles.

In fact, it is time the West took a deep breath and moved simply to stop using Russia’s natural resources altogether.

This will undoubtedly hurt – particularly in countries such as Germany and Italy, which combined account for almost half of Europe's Russian gas imports. Indeed, the crisis is already hurting. Households across the UK are now seeing their energy bills rocket and inflation heading ever-upwards.

Shadow business and energy secretary Jonathan Reynolds even suggested yesterday the Government should be putting in place plans to ration oil and gas. Mr Reynolds later appeared to U-turn on his position and Cabinet minister Grant Shapps ruled out such a move.

But the UK Government is expected to release an energy strategy this week that may include plans to increase the roles of fracking and onshore wind, and bring forward new nuclear power stations.

In Scotland, however, fracking has effectively been banned since 2015, and Nicola Sturgeon has ruled out any new nuclear power stations.

With Prime Minister Boris Johnson courting Saudi Arabian oil producers, despite the country’s appalling human rights record, the First Minister also continues to oppose new fields in the North Sea.

As the crisis over the cost of living deepens, voters may soon start to demand that ministers reassess where Scotland should best source the energy supplies it needs.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​