A group of MPs have urged the UK prime minister Keir Starmer and US president Joe Biden to ‘secure talks with Russia and Ukraine’ to prevent ‘escalation’ in the ongoing war.

The MPs, including Labour MP Diane Abbott and the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn sent a letter to the Guardian in which they argued that “the risk of a nuclear attack cannot be ruled out”, and that the British government must play a role in “securing an end to this horrific conflict”.

RT reports: British politicians and public figures have urged the US and the UK to work towards de-escalating the Ukraine crisis. The call was issued after London and Washington gave Kiev permission to launch long-range missiles they have given to Ukraine deep into Russian territory.  

Last week, Ukraine launched long-range attacks on Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions using US-made ATACMS missiles and British-supplied Storm Shadows. In response, Moscow deployed its brand-new hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, against a Ukrainian military factory in Dnepropetrovsk. Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation and warned that the conlict had taken on a global character. 

The latest developments have caused great concern, a group of British MPs and public figures, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, said in an open letter published by The Guardian on Tuesday. “This rapid escalation seriously threatens an all-out military confrontation with Russia and NATO,” they stressed. 

“The risk of a nuclear attack cannot be ruled out,” the group warned, calling on outgoing US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to de-escalate the conflict and commit to peace by securing talks with Russia and Ukraine.

“The British government has to take responsibility for its actions and these terrible consequences. With hundreds of thousands already killed and injured, securing an end to this horrific conflict is crucial,” the group wrote. They stressed that “diplomacy and dialogue, not military escalation, are the only viable paths to a peaceful settlement in the region.”

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that a political and diplomatic settlement of the Ukraine conflict is “still a very long way off,” judging by the current situation on the battlefield.

The diplomat said that recent “escalatory steps” by the US and its allies, such as granting Kiev permission to use Western long-range missiles against Russian territories, suggested that the West was still “obsessed with the idea of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.”