From armchair generals to bewildered Ukrainian ex-pats calling my LBC radio show this week, there’s been a real sense of disbelief that the long conflict on the eastern border with Russia has now become all-out war.

Before the shocking violence aimed at Ukraine’s people began on 24 February, views ranged from “Nato should give Putin what he wants and say Ukraine will never join” to “Get Western boots on the ground in Ukraine and show him what he’s really up against”. I doubt the solution is anything close to either of those two options.

It can be hard doing phone-in programmes on big geopolitical stories. Why does a war far, far away matter at all to me and my family? But each day that passes with stories of families fleeing, fighting or sheltering underground, it’s clear the events in Ukraine are front and centre in most homes.