The Ukrainians will never waver in defence of their homeland. They are fighting for their lives - and their freedom: As he returns from visiting the war-torn nation, a stirring message from senior Tory LORD ASHCROFT 

A year ago, the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa had streets full of festive lights, towering Christmas trees in its main squares and a bustling population of nearly a million people. Not for nothing was it known as ‘the pearl of the Black Sea’. 

Christmas 2022, ten months after the Russian invasion, is very different. Every evening, Odesa descends into near-total darkness because its electricity supply has been taken out by Russian missiles.

On my arrival in the city five days ago, our car’s headlights pierced the moonless night and caught glimpses of ghostly figures waiting by bus stops. The silence is equally eerie and by 11pm the city, with its depleted population, goes to sleep: the strict curfew lasts until 5am.

Yet after Ukraine’s recent successes on the battlefield — notably, recapturing large areas of the Kherson and Kharkiv regions — its people are more upbeat than at any time since the Russian invasion of February 24.