Eighteen months into Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, two things seem clear. First, the war matters. After 15 years of failed Western responses to Russian aggression against Georgia and Ukraine, another failure to contain and deter Russia would have catastrophic consequences around the world.

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Gunners from the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire at Russian position with a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer 2C22 in the Kharkiv region on April 21, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)