With his own two eyes

A year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he would be riding triumphantly into Kyiv, perhaps aboard a tank from the vanguard of his armed forces that were supposed to steamroll Ukrainian defenders within days.

Instead, that tank is probably now lying in a rusted husk somewhere, and the foreign leader striding triumphantly in the Ukrainian capital is Joe Biden, who took a train into Kyiv to stand with wartime President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and pledge continued U.S. support for Ukraine’s self-defense.

Biden’s surprise visit (of which the Russians were told in advance to avoid any bombardment) bolsters the Western commitment to Ukraine and to keep military assistance flowing. His decision to travel to an active war zone — so active that his visit with Zelenskyy to St. Michael’s Cathedral was interrupted by an air raid siren — in order to personally join the battle-weary public sends a couple of important messages: despite some news fatigue, international support for Ukraine is not waning, and the United States is not bowed by Russia’s aggression. It was not an easy message to deliver, requiring months of careful planning, coordination and uncertainty, but it was a necessary one.

As powerful as symbolic gestures are, they are also merely a tool that’s useless without an overarching strategy and clear objectives, and at this stage the predominant goal should be to reach a negotiated end to the war that leaves Ukraine as intact as possible.

International logistical and weapons support is appropriate in that it puts Ukraine on much stronger footing to set terms of the deal, including an absolute maxim that no territory will be given up. Forcing Russia to the negotiating table in a way that won’t seek to back the nuclear-armed Putin into a corner should be the next step to avoid another year of bloodshed.