DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Cool heads are needed to avert a global war 

It would take a heart of stone to have not been moved yesterday by Ukrainian journalist Daria Kaleniuk’s impassioned plea to Boris Johnson for Nato to take military action against Russia.

Tearful and fretting for friends and relatives under bombardment in Kyiv and elsewhere, she urged the West to keep Vladimir Putin’s bombers at bay by setting up a no-fly zone.

‘Ukrainian women and children are in deep fear because of bombs and missiles which are going from the sky,’ she said. ‘Nato is afraid of World War Three, but it’s already started.’

It would be easy for Mr Johnson and his fellow leaders to be swept up in the emotion and fury of the moment. With each passing day, Putin’s savagery becomes worse.

As a 40-mile armoured column closes on Kyiv, there are reports of banned cluster bombs being used against civilians and so-called ‘vacuum’ devices which cause a blast wave capable of vaporising human beings.

Ukrainian journalist Daria Kaleniuk makes an impassioned plea for the world to help Ukraine after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s speech at the British embassy in Warsaw, Poland

Schools, shopping centres and a hospital have been mercilessly pummelled, leading to a spiralling casualty list and hundreds of thousands of refugees.

It’s enough to send anyone into a boiling rage. But hearts must not rule heads.

As Mr Johnson said, a no-fly zone would involve Nato shooting down Russian planes – an act of all-out war against a nuclear power, led by an unpredictable dictator.

History warns us that such an escalation could quickly spiral out of control, making Ukraine even less safe and pushing the world towards the abyss.

For now, the tactic of supplying Ukraine with arms, helping refugees to safety and crippling the Russian economy with brutal sanctions feels right.

As we see from the collapse of the rouble, the West’s strategy of freezing Russia and its oligarchs out of the international financial system is working.

The Kremlin has been bullish so far, but how will they fare in a few weeks when their cash reserves have dried up and the essentials of everyday life are in short supply?

As Mail readers have shown by helping to raise an astonishing £2million in just 72 hours to provide food, warmth and shelter for refugees, the plight of Ukraine has touched all our hearts.

But we must remain calm. Escalating this crisis into a global conflagration would be a disaster for all concerned.

The generation game

Germany’s decision to recommission three mothballed nuclear power plants signals a welcome recalibration of its approach to energy security.

The Ukraine crisis has made the Germans rue their addiction to Russian gas. They have realised the folly of being in thrall to a vicious tyrant.

Britain must now make a similar reset. The dash to net zero has led us to shun North Sea fossil fuels far too soon and our nuclear programme is a shambles.

We need a proper energy strategy which, while promoting the rise of renewables, recognises the fact that we will need power from other sources for decades to come.

Green posturing plays into Putin’s hands. And it won’t keep the lights on.

Rail union wreckers

At the worst possible moment, the hard-line RMT union calls a Tube strike over deliberately exaggerated threats to jobs and pensions that will bring London to a standstill for four days.

The crippling walkout prevents people getting to offices, restaurants, shops, theatres and more, and is an act of militancy that undermines our post-Covid economic recovery.

These dinosaurs perceive themselves as champions of the workers. The rest of the country sees them for the arrogant wreckers they really are.