The west does not like to think it is at war with Russia. Yet the Russian government seems to think it is at war with the west. For President Vladimir Putin, his cronies and, increasingly, a large part of the Russian people, the history of the past two and a half decades is a sad affront rather than a tragically lost opportunity. Russia has, perhaps inevitably, thrown away the chance of living under an honest government subject to the rule of law. Instead of seeking to remedy that failure, its rulers now wish to deprive Ukraine of that opportunity.

The question is how the west should respond. Nothing would do more to shake the Russian kleptocracy than the transformation of Ukraine into a stable and prosperous democracy. Mr Putin and his associates fear this possibility. Nato, regardless of their huffing and puffing, does not threaten them. But the emergence of a democratic and law-governed Ukraine does. Evidently, there are risks in seeking that outcome — but do not ignore the long-run benefits.

The starting point has to be the economy. Ukraine at last seems to have a competent and determined team of reformers. The revolution that threw President Viktor Yanukovich out of office a year ago[A YEAR AGO], and the subsequent onslaught, has had a purifying effect. The government seems to understand that this is their country’s last chance. A quarter of a century of corruption and incompetence has to end if Ukraine is to have not just a good future but, quite possibly, any future.