A fter Donald Trump unilaterally declared an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine two weeks ago, Volodymyr Zelensky accepted it, even though it had come as news to him.

Ukrainian forces ceased their attacks on Russian refineries for a day or two, but as Vladimir Putin ’s missiles and drones kept coming, the Ukrainians resumed their strikes.

It seems that President Trump had made up the ceasefire. “It was entirely in his head, which is where so many of his great diplomatic triumphs appear to occur,” as Sir Lawrence Freedman, the distinguished military analyst, observed.

Since then, the Russian assault on Ukraine, including the deliberate targeting of civilians, has intensified . As Sam Kiley, our world affairs editor, reports, “this murder and maiming of ordinary people in the deeply personal ‘hunting drone’ killings was once confined to frontline cities such as Kherson, where Russian pilots use headsets to guide small airborne weapons onto women, the elderly and anyone caught in the open”.…