It’s time we gave Ukraine the tools it needs to finish the job

Editorial: Vladimir Putin is in a hurry to maximise the amount of territory his forces occupy before Donald Trump – he hopes – can gift it to him. Europe must not wait for the Russians to cross the Polish border to realise what is at stake

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky meets US secretary of state Antony Blinken in Kyiv on Tuesday (AP)

The presence in Kyiv of the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, at what is becoming a critical juncture in Ukraine’s war of survival against Russia, is, of course, extremely welcome.

Were they being undiplomatically honest, however, the Ukrainians would admit that they would far rather have received a bumper consignment of Patriot missile defence systems, F-16 fighters and Abrams armoured vehicles than the distinguished statesman. That way, they might have a better chance of preventing the Russians from destroying their second city, Kharkiv. Such a denouement is unlikely – but the possibility of it cannot be dismissed.

Like Mr Blinken, Joe Biden has obviously been preoccupied with the Middle East in recent months – and, while a superpower has more than sufficient political and diplomatic “bandwidth” to cope with multiple crises, the decision to send America’s most senior diplomat to Ukraine is an important visible signal that the West is not entirely distracted by the war in Gaza.