UKRAINE’S essential problem is that Russia will always be there. Russia’s essential problem is that Ukraine is already gone.

Even if Kyiv cannot fully recover all its lost territories, Ukrainians are well on their way to joining the rest of Europe economically and politically.

For all of Moscow’s recent battlefield success and glee over dwindling US support, President Vladimir Putin’s hope to restore Russia’s brotherly ties to Ukraine has evaporated and his country looks headed for deepening isolation, impoverishment and irrelevance.