There’s no gainsaying the fact that although war has brutalized a vast swath of the Ukrainian population, the West’s geopolitical gains have been tremendous. With the admission of Finland and Sweden as full-fledged members, NATO would be enlarged, and Europe would be more united than ever since the end of the Cold War.

The question is whether the truncated and moth-eaten Ukraine would be allowed to become part of the EU and NATO, without which it would have no democratic future.