The West can raise the cost to Russia of a long war by continuing to press sanctions and split Russian elites from Vladimir Putin
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitask. They are advancing on Lysychansk and may soon control all of Luhansk province. They also threaten Slovyansk, in the north of next-door Donetsk. Ukrainian leaders say they are outgunned and lack ammunition. Their government reckons as many as 200 of its troops are dying each day.-calibre weapons, fresh tactics and enough financial aid, Ukraine has every chance of forcing back Russia’s armies.
However, the long war does not have to be fought on Mr Putin’s terms. Potentially, Ukraine has vast numbers of motivated fighters. It can be supplied by the West’s defence industry. In 2020, before sanctions, the economies ofUkraine’s turnaround begins on the battlefield, by stopping and reversing thesystems now arriving have longer range and greater accuracy.
Will the West stay the course? At a summit on June 23rd, the European Union awarded Ukraine candidate status, promising a deep level of engagement over the next decade. At another summit in Germany this week, theacknowledged the Russian threat by substantially increasing its presence on the alliance’s eastern front.