That's my point. US interference in Kiev and Russian interference in Donbass are both of dubious legitimacy. But the invasion has changed all that retrospectively. That's all prehistory now. History now begins with Ukraine's heroic resistance to a brutal Russian invasion which has forged a new nation (from a previously very divided one).

Ukraine has earned the right to sit at the international table and make whatever alliances it chooses. I hope it joins the EU and that the EU assists its reconstruction but that is now Ukraine's choice to make regardless of Russian sensitivities and prior claims. It may lose Crimea in the post war negotiations but I doubt it will give a centimetre elsewhere.

And it needs to be given the means to secure its future borders against any further aggression. It should treat its ethnic Russian population sensitively and generously and permit migration for any who want to leave.

And Russia should be treated as a pariah until all its troops leave and prisoners are exchanged. Sanctions should be maintained until it has formally recognised Ukraine's sovereignty and independence. Ideally Russia should be punished for its war crimes against civilians but that is unlikely to be possible absent a complete regime change in Russia which is their business.

And America should stop interfering in the internal affairs of other sovereign nations - they never seem to learn...

Index of Frank's Diaries