The notorious Nazi Reichsmarschall famously boasted to his Luftwaffe that they were the ultimate guardians of the Reich and that the Ruhr industrial district would never be touched by Allied bombers. He boldly told Hitler that no enemy aircraft could reach the Ruhr, and that Berlin would never be bombed. If that happened, he said, his name would be Meyer. In other words, he would be a nobody.

Vladimir Putin has repeatedly assured the Russian people that their Motherland was invulnerable to assault form anyone. The Ukrainians have now demonstrated what a hollow assurance that was to the extent that Moscow was attacked recently by a drone strike. The extent of the damage is likely minuscule but that misses the point. Russia cannot secure its border and the capital city has come under attack. What if the Chinese were to decide to take back the province that was stolen by Russia in 1858? Outer Manchuria was Chinese for millennia before Czarist Russia seized it. What if Xi Jinping were to decide that he wanted it back?

Strategically, the situation is spiralling ever downward for Putin. The war in Ukraine has been costing Russia approximately 1,000 casualties a day. The Black Sea Fleet no longer exists. The recent strike of a railway ferry in Kerch has drastically reduced the ability to move large quantities of materiel to Crimea and the army is now fighting on home soil — previously unthinkable. The Russians have used up most of their fighting vehicles and killed off most if not all of their experienced and trained leaders.

By my count, Putin has stated approximately two dozen times that he would use his nuclear arsenal if this or that happened. Ukraine has called his bluff repeatedly. It is time to remove all restrictions upon Ukraine and give them the tools they need to finish the job.