The war with Russia is going very badly for Ukraine. At the beginning of July, the Russian armed forces took full control of the Luhansk region for the first time. And, though it is too early to tell if they will hold it, there are now unconfirmed reports that the Ukrainian front line defending Pokrovsk has collapsed and that the Russian army has broken through, rapidly advancing 6-10 kilometers and cutting Ukraine’s supply lines. There are now even unconfirmed reports that Russian forces have entered Pokrovsk, which, if true, is a severe strategic setback for Ukraine.

But Ukrainians must feel that it is not just Russia that is pummeling them. Ukrainians must feel as though the whole world has abandoned them.

In the first weeks of the war in 2022, before all the loss of life and land, Ukraine was prepared to sign a peace with Russia that would have satisfied its goals. The United States and its Western allies—particularly the United Kingdom and Poland—encouraged them off the diplomatic path and pushed them into war with Russia with the assurance that they would be provided with everything they need for as long as they need it.

Ukraine needs more, and they need it for longer, but the promise has been broken, and Ukraine is largely on its own. The U.S. will no longer provide Ukraine with military equipment unless European countries buy it for them. But several European countries have opted out of the deal, and even if all of Europe was all in, not enough weapons can be made available on time to save Ukraine. …

Ukraine’s struggle to join the EU has recently suffered even more setbacks. The first round of formal negotiations on Ukraine’s accession were supposed to happen on July 18. They did not. Stefanishyna conceded that the EU is “not currently prepared to take the decisions” that Ukraine had hoped for. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky then reassigned Stefanishyna, taking her off the EU file and making her the special envoy to the U.S. in what some analysts see as Zelensky despairing of EU membership and downgrading Ukraine’s representation to the EU. …

For three-and-a-half years, Ukrainians have fought the war that the United States and its Western allies asked it to fight. As many as three quarters of a million soldiers may have died, and Ukraine faces the very real possibility of collapse and of losing the war. Ukraine has not received whatever they need for as long as they need it as the U.S. and Britain promised. They will not receive NATO membership. They will not receive European Union membership on a fast track any time soon. Ukrainians must feel like they have been abandoned by their own government and by the world.