With the right tools, Ukraine can still finish this job

Editorial: On the second anniversary of the Russian invasion, the challenge for the West is much the same as it was on day one – to help Ukraine win, or at least not lose. But, as the US Congress vacillates over sending $60bn in aid, that challenge now risks being lost

A Ukrainian serviceman with the 93rd Brigade fires a howitzer towards Russian troops, near the city of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk (Reuters)

After two years of merciless destruction that has left cities flattened, millions dead, wounded or displaced, plus an unknown number of children kidnapped and war crimes committed, it takes an effort to recall just how almost casually it started.

A column of unprotected Russian tanks trundled south from the border on the comparatively short, 236-mile journey to the Ukrainian capital, as if they were driving to the shops. Long before they reached Kyiv, they had been stopped and, shortly after, they retreated.

Whatever gains Russia made in the east were purely temporary, and most have been won back by the Ukrainians, particularly in the earlier phases of the war. The Russian invaders were not, as perhaps some in the Kremlin dreamt they might, welcomed with flowers and the traditional gifts of bread and salt as they “liberated” Ukraine from its supposed Nazi masters.