The Soviet Union's first investigative journalist, who had to defect to the UK after exposing organised crime, has spoken to the Comet about the war in his home country.

Vitali Vitaliev was born in the 1950s in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, which has been heavily targeted in Russian attacks since war broke out three weeks ago.

He has told of the devastating moment he heard that Russia had invaded Ukraine.

"Can you imagine the house of a child being hit by a bomb?" he said.

"I was almost paralysed when I first heard, I couldn't drive, I couldn't speak for quite some time which was scary - but then staying silent became more painful than speaking out or writing.

"I try to carry on, but I am not succeeding very well at the moment.

"I went to university in Kharkiv, and that university has just been destroyed completely - almost the whole city has been destroyed.

"I lived in Moscow, funnily enough, for 15 years. I worked for Krokodil satirical magazine. I was the first journalist to write about organised crime in the Soviet Union so I had to defect in 1990, first to Britain then to Australia and then back to Britain."

The Comet: Members of the Letchworth community lit candles for UkraineMembers of the Letchworth community lit candles for Ukraine (Image: Sue Hogg)

Vitali is a successful writer and author, having had work published newspapers including The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, Glasgow Herald, and for numerous titles in the Australian and Asian press.

From 2007 until 2020 he was features editor of E&T magazine, based in Stevenage - which is how he came to live in Letchworth. He is now a fellow at two Cambridge university colleges - Magdalene and Wolfson - where he teaches.

He said: "Most of my friends or family, if not all of them are out of the country - they are now refugees in different places. I didn't have close relatives, but distant relatives and some friends. They all seem to be safe.

"Although it was being spoken about, the invasion came as a huge surprise to everyone. They were talking about the possibility of him invading.

"Putin started the war eight years ago in the Donbas and the Crimea - and the west largely ignored It. Knowing Putin's KGB mentality, he can only understand the language of force and determination - so you can only expect nasty things from him.

"The invasion was still a huge shock I have to say, one of the biggest shocks in my experience - and I have gone through quite a lot in my life. It was beyond horrible."

The Comet asked the Ukrainian what he thought of the protesters in Russia speaking out against the war - and he responded that by and large Putin is supported in Russia.

"Putin is widely supported by the majority of the Russian population - probably about 60 or 70 per cent support him," he said.

"I lost friends Moscow because they are either silent or supporting him - which is the same thing. It's like how it was under Stalin - who is not with us is against us.

"During the 70 years of the USSR even when it became really dangerous to speak out you could still protest, you could revolt without risking your life but many didn't. And now Putin is brought to power time and time again."

"I will go back to Ukraine - I probably never will go back to [what is now] Russia. I defected from the Soviet Union, Russia as a country did not exist. When Putin came to power it became impossible for me to return, and frankly I don't want to."

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy has repeatedly asked NATO for a no-fly zone - and Vitali has said, he thinks the west haven't been taking "big enough steps" to support Ukraine.

"Knowing the psychology of that monster and his cronies, these are not big enough steps.

"I have written a lot about psychology and they say if you are going kill someone you don't warn them you are going to kill them.

"Putin keeps giving warning that he would push the red button [saying WWIII would be nuclear], which probably means that he is not going to. But obviously, that is just a guess.

"The involvement of NATO is inevitable because Putin won't go back - the sooner NATO get involved the better, because then they stand a chance to stop millions of people from dying before it's too late.

"It is essential and it's important because the NATO army is much, much stronger than the Russian army."

The Comet asked Mr Vitaliev what he thought of incidents involving Russia on UK soil, namely the poisoning and death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko in London and the Salisbury Novichok poisonings.

He said he knew fellow defector Alexander Litvinenko - he "had exchanged emails with him shortly before" his death. The former FSB officer and critic of Putin died after was poisoned with polonium in 2006 - something that Mr Vitaliev was "absolutely outraged by".

He said he was "amazed by" what he said was a "soft approach of the British government" given the "enormity of that crime".

"By not acting, they have been encouraging Putin to try harder and harder and harder with the Crimea and with Sergei Skripal [and his daughter, who were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury in 2018].

Russia deny any involvement in the poisonings.

Speaking to the Vitali Vitaliev on day 20 of the invasion of Ukraine, the Comet asked if he had any hope for the days and weeks ahead.

He said: "It's a very difficult question. I don't know. Previously and unfortunately I have been able to predict the course of events in the USSR, and in the coup of 1991.

"I want the war to stop, I want them to stop murdering my people and to get out but, frankly, I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel and that is what is so horrible and depressing. I hope there will be some sort of uprising but I don't know what is going to happen.

"I think the wishful thinking in me is too strong."