I agree with robo here (I don't always, but hey). I'm clinging to hope a bit too much. But this is going to go on for a good while yet. I admit that I was wrong about the need for Ukraine to not fight back. I didn't expect the response to be as brave and feisty as it's been so far. In consequence, this isn't going as well as Putin thought it would. Unfortunately, the realisation of that could make him even nastier. What we're seeing on the telly apropos of families having to leave their homes and, in many cases, their husbands, is almost too much to watch. All because a despot wants to reclaim a corrupt kingdom. I don't think we are heading for WW3 but we are certainly heading for mass cruelty visited on millions of people who just want to get on with their lives.

As for weaponry, I think we should applaud Germany for promising to provide anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry, and, up to today, at potentially at great cost to their economy, they have cancelled the new gas pipeline to Russia and agreed to suspend the SWIFT international bank transfer agreement. The US is the most powerful western military force. Ukraine is an awful long way from Washington. We have yet to see an adequate response to this dreadful attack on democracy.