Ukraine holds on
On missile strikes, historic humiliation, and why no wartime leader under barbaric assault should have to beg for help
President Zelenskyy has ventured to the United States for yet another summit of heads of state. It’s shameful that he is forced to keep trying to persuade others that Ukraine’s cause is just and worthy of support.
■ As Zelenskyy was making the case for his country -- which is the clear and self-evident victim in a war of Russian aggression -- the Kremlin was launching dozens of missiles and hundreds of explosive drones at Kyiv. The targets included residential buildings and electrical power facilities.
■ History will view this as a humiliating phase -- not for Ukraine, which has held up longer and more resiliently than anybody could have imagined, but for the countries that could have done more, sooner, and in bigger measure to aid Ukraine.
■ Russia’s name will be forever shamed by the inexcusability of the invasion, which as The Economist notes, is about to exceed the length of Russia’s fight in WWII. The Kremlin could stop the war at any time, and chooses not to.
■ But when there’s such a clear distinction between right and wrong, between barbaric invasion and peaceful self-determination, no leader of an invaded nation should have to make pilgrimages with hat in hand. It’s not just morally upright to lend vigorous aid to Ukraine, it’s in the self-interest of those many European nations standing in the path of Russian imperialist ambitions. Deterrence matters, and coming decisively to the aid of a righteous self-defense force is one vital signal of seriousness about deterrence.