Does Joe Hear Zel’s Call?

Addressing Congress from Kyiv, one of several Ukrainian cities being leveled by Vladimir Putin’s indiscriminate shelling, President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a thunderous moral clarion call. He outlined the horrors Putin has inflicted and the wider implications. This is not just a tragedy for Ukraine, it’s a catastrophe for Europe, the worst since World War II.

Russia “threw tanks and planes against [its] freedom,” he said. The war is an offensive against “basic human values.”

Correct. Unchecked Russian aggression in Ukraine is an attack on Western sovereignty and the basic tenets of our civilization. Look no further than the civilians on a bread line in Chernihiv killed by Russian shelling.

Zelensky’s heart-rending video showed the human toll of Russian attacks: the dead, the mutilated, weeping children, refugees boarding trains, families broken apart.

While expressing his gratitude for the help sent so far, Zelensky reiterated calls for a no-fly zone and, failing that, defense systems and aircraft, as well as ever-harsher sanctions on the aggressor.

His cause, civilization’s cause, deserves that support and more. And — as he pointed out — it’s not a no-fly zone or nothing. We can deliver lethal assistance to Ukraine in many ways and help end the air assault without one. President Biden can start by giving the US’s blessing to aircraft transfers from Poland — and any other willing country. And the new support Biden announced later in the day should include S-300s — anti-air systems that can hit high-flying Russian planes, by any means necessary as quickly as possible. Rush the transfer of cutting-edge Switchblade drones, too.

Biden also needs to stop saying what he won’t do and set clear red lines now, with specific minimum consequences for actions such as deliberately targeting civilians, the use of chemical weapons or military advances that approach NATO states too closely.

Absent such red lines, Putin will see a clear signal to continue his bloody aggression with no fears of real reprisal.

Zelensky finished in English, addressing Biden directly. “It’s not enough,” he said, “to be the leader of your nation. Today takes being the leader of the world.”

Right again. Step up, Mr. President.