THE LONG HAUL

Speaking at a private dinner in London recently, a senior serving British military officer argued the west had no choice but to see Ukraine as just one phase in a decade-long battle with Russia. “If Ukraine wins, Russia will never accept that. If Russia wins, it will go further,” he warned.

Yet in Whitehall they fear the “F word” – fatigue – and worry that the west does not have the resolve for the years-long sacrifice required to defeat Russia, or even stem the military tide in the villages of eastern Ukraine. That anxiety is shared by Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, who in a speech to marketing professionals in Cannes last week pleaded with them to use their creative ingenuity to keep the world focused on his country’s struggle: “Don’t let the world switch to something else,” he said.

The succession of recent summits – European Council, the G7 and Nato – have come at a pivotal moment in