Prigozhin death a needed reminder the West cannot sit back on its laurels
It is a sad fact of life that war fatigue exists. When the Russians invaded Ukraine in February of last year, it was on our front page day after day. That isn’t the case anymore, even if the daily devastation wrought on Ukraine remains much the same.
Indeed sometimes it is easy, almost, to forget that the European continent sits astride a nation run by a paranoid, violent tyrant who thinks nothing of territorial borders or indeed human life.
And then one is reminded of the fact by a Russian mercenary leader mysteriously going bang in mid-air.
There is of course no proof that Vladimir Putin is behind what happened yesterday but it is nonetheless worth revisiting why it is imperative that the West sticks together in its so-far, more-or-less united approach to Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.
There have been occasional wobbles. As the cost to battered-and-bruised economies mounts – as seen in Europe’s horrible PMI data yesterday – there will likely be more.
Crucial to the West’s response has been the White House’s aggressive, uncompromising response. Where the US leads, most still follow.
As the US election circus kicks into gear, all eyes will be on Donald Trump’s evolving views on the Ukraine invasion, and not just in the Kremlin. For all of Trump’s boastfulness on the economy, not all of it is hot air. But a failure to stand up to violent tyranny would make his achievements, such as they are, only a footnote. He must surely know that, too.