We must now fund and empower an independent agency to gather and investigate all evidence to enable swift legal action to be taken before the International Court of Justice. We do it already, spending $2.8 million to Unitad, the United Nations Investigative Team on Da’esh, which has already identified more than 1,444 suspected war criminals.

We must build on Unitad. The Nuremberg Trials had comparatively little evidence. We must ensure that no aggressor, from a tank driver to a general, can hide behind the crimes committed in his name.

Triggering war crime investigations now will be another squeeze on Putin and his cronies. There is no statute of limitations. Putin is now 69. He will still be liable for them at 79, 89 and 99. The calculation that advisers, generals and soldiers have to make is how long will Putin last? How stable is this regime?

With the atrocities being committed in Ukraine, the impact of heavy sanctions and the rancour of the West, does the regime even have a shelf life of a year?

Each day that goes by without victory further humiliates, isolates and impoverishes Russia. I do not believe that Putin will lash out with nuclear fury. I believe he will try shock and awe with overwhelming force to end this battle. In doing so, he will shame his country into crimes that must, one day, be brought to justice.

Tobias Ellwood is the chairman of the House of Commons defence select committee