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Jeremy Corbyn's Stop The War coalition has provoked a furious public backlash after criticising Ukraine's attack on Russia. Ukraine stunned the Kremlin after launching a lightning
raid into Russia's Kursk region last Tuesday. The incursion is believed to involve thousands of troops, who have seized some 386 square miles of territory in just under a week. Despite
claiming to have the situation under control, Putin's army is clearly struggling to contain the attack. The anti-war group, of which Corbyn is a deputy president, criticised Kyiv for
the attack, accusing it of a dangerous escalation. In a post to its X social media page on Sunday, they wrote: "Ukraine’s escalation is terrifying. Stop the war.” The tweet produced a
scathing response from social media users, who reminded the group that it was Putin who started the war. One wrote: “Vladimir Putin is the only one responsible for this war by the way he
violated Kyiv’s sovereignty and has been incriminated by the ICC for kidnapping thousands of Ukrainian children. "If he would withdraw his troops from Ukraine the war will end
tomorrow.” Despite the public criticism of its stand, Stop The War continued their criticism of Ukraine and the West in follow-up posts on Monday. “As we’ve continually warned, these are the
very real consequences of Nato’s intervention – escalating the Ukraine war in very dangerous ways,” the group wrote. “This escalation is down to Nato’s refusal to allow a settlement. The
anti-war movement must fight to end this war.” Putin has used several arguments to justify his aggression against his western neighbour, claiming at times to be returning ancient Russian
lands to the Kremlin, while at others saying he was defending the motherland from Ukrainian fascists. He has also tried to blame the war on Nato "expansionism", claiming
Ukraine's membership of the alliance would pose an existential threat to Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday Russia had to be "forced to make peace"
as President Vladimir Putin wants to continue fighting. In his nightly address, Zelensky said that war was coming back to Russia after Moscow had taken it to other countries. "Russia
must be forced to make peace if Putin wants to fight so badly," Zelensky said. "Russia brought war to others, now it's coming home. Ukraine has always wanted only peace, and
we will certainly ensure peace," he added.