Ukraine needs help to clear the landmines as well as military aid

IT IS now 3,505 days since Russia invaded Ukraine. If that stark fact is as confusing as it is startling, never forget that Ukraine was first invaded in 2014 and that, to a greater or lesser degree, the two countries have been in a state of conflict ever since.

While Ukraine lost Crimea and some of the Donbas in 2014, no-one would deny that the scale of the February 2022 invasion dwarfed what had gone before. The events of 2014 amputated important parts of Ukraine, but the invasion of 2022 presented an existential threat to the country.

The fact that Ukraine has clawed its way back from the brink of annihilation is a remarkable achievement by a brave and tenacious people. And yet, as the war has dragged on, so the interest and patience of the world has begun to diminish. Why care about Ukraine, when we can be worried about RAAC concrete? This year, the Ukrainians forced the Russians on to the defensive. They did this by stopping the Russian army in its tracks at Bakhmut. But in so doing, Ukraine lost many experienced troops, while Russia threw the expendable manpower of Wagner into the meatgrinder.