This devastation conveys the urgency of the task. Western leaders can help make Mr Zelensky’s war aim credible by ensuring that Ukraine has the military capacity and security guarantees it needs. Ukraine needs weapons. Western leaders also need to signal that they are willing to go beyond today’s open-ended words about an “irrevocable path” to NATO membership by inviting Ukraine to join now, even if it is divided and, possibly, without a formal armistice.
As the week wore on, however, we felt that a battlefield would not work. For one thing, some readers might think it signified a different war: Israel and Hizbullah were attacking each other in Lebanon. For another, the real drama lay in Mr Zelensky and his desperate mission to seek help. |