We had one chance to sink the Russian economy and we blew it – Putin knew we would

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Despite Europe’s pledge to stand side by side with Ukraine, many of Zelensky’s allies couldn’t stomach the one sacrifice it would take to cause Putin real harm: to give up his oil and gas completely, writes Owen Matthews

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n the weeks following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Europe’s leaders followed the trail blazed by Boris Johnson to Kyiv to express their undying support for the war effort. Each, in different ways, echoed the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s mantra that they would give Ukraine “as much as it takes, for as long as it takes” to resist Putin.