THE protracted war in Ukraine might have shrunk from the headlines in recent months, but that doesn’t mean it has ended. Far from it.

The fresh escalation of the conflict should be a new call to arms for the left and trade union movement and all those concerned with the fight for peace here in Britain.

The risk of the Russian invasion escalating into a wider regional war has been apparent from the beginning of the conflict.

Russia is already, in very real terms, de facto at war with the Nato alliance.

Ukrainian blood is spilled on the front lines but the weapons and the cash flow inexorably from the West.

Many had predicted a Ukrainian collapse earlier this year, but this has not materialised as yet, with the war effort bolstered by a delayed influx of US arms and money.

Keir Starmer and his government, while being steadfast in their refusal to invest desperately needed money in public services here in Britain, have been clear that vast sums are guaranteed to fuel the slaughter “for as long as it takes.”

This cash will immediately end up in the accounts of the same arms manufacturers and monopolies that have profited from this war from the beginning and play a key role in dictating government policy.

Any hopes for peace talks and a negotiated settlement seem once again to have dissipated.

Last week the world marked the 79^th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing, and today the threat of a nuclear conflagration has never been higher.

The war has carried this risk from the beginning — a fact largely suppressed in the state and monopoly media in order to mitigate scrutiny of Britain’s cavalier attitude to providing weapons.

UN agencies have repeatedly warned of the risk of a nuclear accident also resulting from the conflict during the Russian attacks near Chernobyl and Ukrainian power plants and in terms of the Ukrainian attack near Kursk.

It is clear that US imperialism, conscious of its own waning power, grows more reckless and desperate by the day in its drive to maintain and reassert hegemony.

A developing feature of this decline is the inability of the US to restrain its vassals and dependent states as it would have previously, and is dragged by them into escalations beyond even the US’s immediate appetite.

The US had placed some restraints on the conflict in Ukraine, restricting some weapons and providing others on the agreement that they would not be used to strike targets inside Russia. That now seems to be a thing of the past.

Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and the US response are another clear example.

The US has been forced to justify and stand behind Benjamin Netanyahu’s dangerous escalations, which could very easily lead to a wider regional war.

The consequences for the working people of these countries are horrific. The threat to all humanity is existential.

The tasks for the left and the trade union movement here in Britain are clear.

Rebuilding a vigorous and militant peace movement — buoyed by the popular support for the Palestine solidarity movement — must be a priority.

This has to be connected with the struggle against austerity and for public services. The fact that billions are siphoned off to fund foreign wars while public services crumble and children go hungry here at home is not lost on working people.

The struggle for peace has never been more urgent.