The value of an effective air defence system and of unwavering international support was crystal clear the night of Iran’s massive attack on Israel: most Iranian missiles and drones were destroyed before they reached Israeli soil.
A recent missile attack on a power generation plant in the north means that hundreds of thousands, if not a million more Ukrainians could be forced to leave their homes by next winter.
Now that the US House of Representatives has finally passed a long-awaited package of military aid worth $61bn for Ukraine after months of stalling, it could hold the line, perhaps losing some more territory in the Donetsk region.
Making a state and a society function with a halved population, while fending off an invasion by one of the world’s largest armies, requires unimaginable resilience.
Belatedly, the realisation of a long war has dawned on the west, and arms production is being ramped up: by next year, European governments should be able to compensate for some of the current mismatch.
A diplomat stationed in Kyiv told us that when the EU moved to open accession negotiations with Ukraine last December, soldiers on the frontline were jubilant.
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