Ukraine is showing fighting spirit, and its allies must respond

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Editorial: Vladimir Putin must be brought to the point where he no longer has an interest in prolonging the war

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The Ukrainians have responded to the cautiousness of their European allies with a show of fighting spirit. After European leaders signed off a €90bn loan – as we commented yesterday, “just enough” to hold Vladimir Putin’s forces at bay but not enough to push them back – Ukraine has struck an alleged Russian shadow-fleet oil tanker off Libya, 2,000km from the battlefield.

Ukrainian drones also hit a Russian patrol ship and an offshore drilling platform in the Caspian Sea, hundreds of kilometres away.

This intensification of the long-distance battle that Ukraine is fighting in support of the ground war of attrition on its own territory is a fitting response, both to the hesitation of its allies and to the four-hour monologue of obfuscation delivered by Mr Putin on Friday.

And it is also the right accompaniment to the peace talks conducted by Russian and United States negotiators in Florida, with a supporting cast of representatives of Ukraine and of Ukraine’s allies in the coalition of the willing.

Mr Putin does not pause his assault on kindergartens and apartment blocks while the talks take place, so the Ukrainians should not hold back on their attacks on more legitimate targets.

Hopes were said to be high of a breakthrough that would allow a ceasefire, although The Independent was always of the view that Mr Putin has no genuine interest in peace and that we would therefore believe it only when he finally agreed to realistic guarantees of Ukraine’s postwar security.

“The intelligence has always been that Putin wants more,” according to Mike Quigley, a Democratic member of the House intelligence committee, on Saturday.

In the meantime, Mr Putin’s bellicosity should give the free nations of the world no choice but to continue to support the Ukrainian people in their just struggle.

One British citizen who has acted personally on this moral imperative is Aiden Aslin, 31, from Nottingham, an interview with whom we publish today. He fought with the Kurdish peshmerga because he felt he should do something about the rape and enslavement of Yazidi women by Isis. He then volunteered to serve in the Ukrainian army before the 2022 Russian invasion. He was captured, tortured and released in a prisoner swap before rejoining Ukrainian forces last year.

“I think Russia can be beaten,” he tells Sam Kiley, our world affairs editor. “I think we have got the means to exhaust their economy. Obviously, it is not an overnight thing. At some point, it is going to give.”

He has limited knowledge of the state of Russian morale, of course, but he knows about the Ukrainians alongside whom he fights. “People in Russia are saying that you should end this,” he says. “The grasp is weakening. There are a lot of things showing that Russia is becoming a lot more destabilised.”

He is right that this war will be brought to an end only when the Russian economy and the Russian people cannot sustain it. And there were signs during Mr Putin’s long interview that Russian public opinion is not wholly supportive of him. Questions submitted to him included, “When you will return the ‘normal internet’?”, “Are you going to nominate yourself to run for president in 2030?” and “Stop price increases!”, which may be more of a comment than a question.

That is why Ukraine’s European allies must do more – and that means, realistically, pay more – to force Mr Putin to the point where he no longer has an interest in prolonging the conflict.

Mr Aslin finds comfort for Ukraine in the examples of Afghanistan, the Soviet Union and even Napoleon. “On previous occasions throughout history,” he says, “the defender has, most of the time, ended up winning.” This time, he must be proved right.

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