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If one accepts the rationale that Russia invaded Ukraine to thwart Kyiv’s entry into NATO and check the Western military alliance’s eastward march — and there are plenty of reasons, of course, not to accept that rationale — then on those grounds alone, President Vladimir Putin’s gambit has been a disaster. The Russian assault on Ukraine has led to an almost unprecedented moment of solidarity in Europe, waves of Western military equipment pouring into Ukraine and the mass expulsion of suspected Russian spies in European capitals. Ukraine might not be in the queue to join NATO right now, but its dogged resistance has accelerated its prospect of joining the European Union and further unmooring itself from the Russian orbit.
