Ukrainians have a painful history of seeing their basic needs ignored.

The 1917-20 allied intervention in Russia failed to defend Ukrainian self-determination. The New York Times downplayed Joseph Stalin’s 1932-33 Holodomor famine-genocide in which millions died. The 1995 Budapest Memorandum saw Ukraine give up its nuclear arsenal without security guarantees. Even today, German and American allies are limiting Ukraine’s right to self-defence by denying it airpower and prohibiting long-range strikes deep within Russia.