We’ve long become accustomed to world leaders talking tough, especially when they find themselves in extremely difficult situations. For some of them it’s just their nature, as they sincerely believe that the positions they have taken are without flaw. In other instances, it could be that they want to walk back their stance but save some amount of face in the process.

We don’t claim to know whether either of those scenarios is at play in the comments made yesterday by Mr Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council. What we can reasonably assume, though, is that his remarks will not help to quickly resolve the deadly conflict between his country and Ukraine.

Mr Medvedev, who was Russian president from 2008 to 2012, is reported as accusing Western nations of stoking what he termed “disgusting” Russophobia in an attempt to force Russia into submission.

“It will not work,” he said. “Russia has the might to put all of our brash enemies in their place.”

Mr Medvedev, of course, shares the view of his president, Mr Vladimir Putin, that the US was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and as such Moscow had no choice but to defend itself against what he has labelled Ukraine’s “genocide” of Russian-speaking people.

Lest anyone forget, Mr Putin, without provocation, sent his army into Ukraine, starting a war that he is trying to convince the world is only a “special military operation”. The upshot is that his forces have been shelling non-military targets, killing civilians, among them children.

On Wednesday we saw the International Court of Justice ordering Russia to suspend its invasion of Ukraine, saying it was “profoundly concerned” by Moscow’s use of force.

The war has also resulted in the International Criminal Court (ICC) opening an investigation, and chief prosecutor Mr Karim Khan has issued a warning that any attacks directed at civilians or civilian buildings, like hospitals, were crimes that his office “may investigate and prosecute”.

Mr Khan has assured that the ICC investigation will be carried out with “independence, impartiality and integrity” and will involve both sides of the conflict. That, we believe, will be essential for acceptance of the probe’s result.

But even as the ICC engages in that investigation, we take some amount of encouragement in news on Wednesday from Russian Foreign Minister Mr Sergei Lavrov that both sides are “close to agreeing” a deal that would see Ukraine accept neutrality modelled on the status of Sweden and Austria.

Ukraine neutrality is a practical solution that we have suggested before in this space, especially given Russia’s belief that its national security is facing danger of encirclement by countries it regards as hostile to it.

It is not too late to achieve that agreement, more so now that Ukrainian President Mr Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly acknowledged that his country will not join the Western NATO military alliance, which was a key demand from Russia.

At the same time, the Kremlin should act on Ukraine’s insistence of security guarantees as well as a full withdrawal of Russian forces.

Too many lives have already been lost in this senseless war which has also resulted in more than three million people fleeing Ukraine, creating a refugee crisis particularly in neighbouring Poland.

There is an urgent need for a ceasefire. Human lives are more important that saving face.