Invaded country's defense minister doesn't have much time to read, but Aleksey Reznikov makes front-page reading mandatory, writes The Economist.

He's worried about what he sees. “Either the world does not quite understand what is happening,” he says, “or it understands, is tired and is content with the death of several Ukrainians.”. When Russia attacked his country on February 24, few expected Ukraine to survive.. Heroic resistance turned fatalism into hope and led to promises of military support. But the cracks in the Western alliance appear just as the war enters a new bloody phase.. Losses of Ukrainians now average 100-200 people a day. “We need help, and quickly,” the minister says, “because the cost of any delay is measured in Ukrainian blood.”.

As Russian tanks crossed the Ukrainian border to the north, south and east, the 55-year-old former lawyer was in charge of his office for less than four months.. Having received a civilian appointment to a position usually filled by former military men, Mr. Reznikov expected to be mainly involved in bureaucratic reforms.. Instead, he busied himself with reorganizing defense affairs as rocket rain rained down on Kyiv..

His war began with a call at 4 am from Valery Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and a laconic message: “It has begun. Air defense and radar strikes. Invasion" It was a signal for Reznikov to kiss his wife goodbye and leave for the office.. We spent the next three weeks with a core group of advisors armed with automatic rifles.. The group moved to secret places in the capital. “One of the most uncomfortable things was waking up every morning in a new bed.”.

This tactic was part of a set of protocols developed during top-secret pre-invasion planning.. Publicly, the president and his secretary of defense downplayed the threat of war. Privately they prepared for the worst. Only now, Mr. Reznikov was able to reveal some details. The main trick was to declare " “It was a pretext that allowed us to secretly withdraw our military units from their places of permanent deployment.. When the blows went, our guys were not all together in one place, but were ready with weapons, ammunition and scattered around the country..

Ukrainians had other surprises up their sleeves. They hid air defense systems and attack aircraft, replacing them with mock-ups. They passed a new law on territorial defense to arm about 100,000 civilians in three days.. Society organized itself in a way that the Russians did not expect. But the key moment was the decision of Volodymyr Zelensky to stay in Kyiv. “Everyone expected the president to run away and form a government in exile. But Zelensky had his own script.”.

Western governments recognized the ability of the leader of Ukraine. And with each tactical victory on the battlefield, they began to believe that his country had a chance to win.. Opposition to sending weapons began to dissipate. A conference convened by America at its Ramstein Air Base in Germany on April 26 appeared to support the principle of arming Ukraine to victory.. “The West has begun to believe that David will defeat Goliath,” Mr. Reznikov says..

But fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine shows that such an assessment is premature.. Under the leadership of a new commander, Russian troops are exploiting Ukraine's backlog in artillery, multiple rocket launchers and aviation. Russia pushes elite Ukrainian troops out of the salient around the industrial city of Severodonetsk. Fighting also flares up on the outskirts of Slavyansk.

If the news looks bleak for both sides, it's even worse for Ukraine. Returning soldiers speak of chaotic command and expended ammunition. Inexperienced, young volunteer soldiers are sent to the front lines to replace their fallen comrades.. According to the minister, this is an inevitable consequence of the Russian invasion. \? Young guys end up on the front lines, where no one wants them, and they die... The world needs to know about this ”.

Ukraine now needs Western help to stop the onslaught, and it's not coming fast enough. In some areas, the firepower of Russian troops is ten times greater than the firepower of Ukrainians.. Multiple rocket launchers are under development and should arrive " But Ukraine needs them in large numbers, and whether its allies agree to send them could determine how Russia responds to their deployment..

Western military leaders have also expressed concern that Ukraine may not be able to master the new technology as quickly as it would like.. Mr. Reznikov dismisses this: according to him, his soldiers mastered Western artillery in just two weeks.. The country is ready to transfer its weapons to NATO standards within a month, he claims, which is rather implausible.. "

Mr. Reznikov tries to be polite about cracks in Western alliance. Fatigue is “a natural psychological response to stress”; politicians have \; leaders have a " But sometimes disappointment breaks through. If the war has taught him anything, he says, it's that Ukraine's allies talk more about human rights and freedoms than they defend them.. “The bureaucracy and pragmatism of the West proved to be much stronger than its values,” he says.. For France and Germany, Ukraine is an annoying obstacle to a comfortable life. Does he hold back his emotions during difficult conversations with colleagues in Paris and Berlin? “I am professionally trained as a lawyer, so yes. But then, informally, I can throw in some pretty strong words."

As Deputy Prime Minister from 2020 to 21, Reznikov led Ukraine's peace talks with Russia over the eastern Donbas region, where fighting has been ongoing since 2014. This experience taught him that Russia does not consider peace agreements permanent..

This makes the traditional negotiated truce with the Kremlin impossible, despite the desire of French President Emmanuel Macron, who said that Russia should not be “humiliated”. According to him, when the time comes, Ukraine will negotiate a new security architecture in Europe.. This means security guarantees from countries he trusts..

Nevertheless, Mr. Reznikov insists that his people will never make territorial concessions to the regime that shed so much Ukrainian blood.. “They are trying to create enough chaos, panic and fear to force us to sign an act of surrender,” he says.. " We're not even close to that mood."