Howard Amos’s report on the Odessa fire of 2 May 2014 (2 May), in which at least 45 people died, reminds us how easily tension and mounting distrust can become murderous. On 9 May in Moscow, statesmen are to celebrate the victorious ending of the most destructive war in European history, against Nazi Germany. I understand that no western leaders are to be present. This is regrettable. Non-participation is an insult to the Russian and ex-Soviet peoples, who lost 25 to 27 million citizens to achieve a victory that gave us decades of peace and prosperity. It also means missing an opportunity to negotiate in a relatively favourable atmosphere to try to secure a more permanent peace in Ukraine and finally to end the war that began with that Odessa fire and which has since cost the lives of at least 5,000 people and made hundreds of thousands homeless. Is there any more urgent task facing European statesmen right now?

Geoffrey Hosking

London