The banner hanging near Red Square was triumphant. It read: “Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Russia! Together for ever!” Last Friday, Vladimir Putin formally announced the annexation of these Ukrainian territories and celebrated with a victory concert in Moscow. Russia’s president addressed a cheering crowd. “Welcome home,” he said. “Russia! Russia!” they replied.
For ever turned out to mean less than 24 hours. As workmen dismantled the stage outside the Kremlin, Ukrainian troops marched into the eastern city of Lyman, from where Putin’s army had just made an inglorious retreat.
They were, according to the Kremlin’s version of reality, encroaching on Russia’s
