An impasse over aid from the US and Europe has Ukraine’s allies contemplating something they’ve refused to imagine since the earliest days of Russia’s invasion: that Vladimir Putin may win. With more than $110 billion in assistance mired in political disputes in Washington and Brussels, how long Kyiv will be able to hold back Russian forces and defend Ukraine’s cities, power plants and ports against missile attacks is increasingly in question. And the longer term threat posed to NATO nations by a Kremlin victory is stark.  Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denied that Ukraine is starting to lose the war, pointing to advances his forces have made and the support he’s received. But in the US, with Republicans blocking $61 billion of support for next year, the Pentagon is warning that money for weapons for Ukraine will run out by Dec. 30. President Joe Biden, long a stalwart in his support for an embattled country which has seen tens of thousands of its people killed by Russian soldiers, mercenaries and convicts, last week pledged to back Ukraine for “as long as we can.” It used to be “as long as it takes.” —David E. Rovella
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