They cannot bring its people round, just as they could not in Afghanistan. I have heard it said that we are more invested in Ukraine because its people are like “us”. Who is us? Our ungodly scramble out of Afghanistan, condemning a generation of women to slavery and which surely emboldened Putin, does not fade away, nor should it. 

Right now we are focused on Ukraine because there is nothing ambiguous about what is happening there. Here is the face off: Putin, who is terrified of Covid and appeared only in full hazmat suits at the beginning of the pandemic, intoning his paranoid fantasies at his ridiculously long tables, living in fear of his own inner circle versus Zelensky, a proud Jew who stands with his people. The strongman looks weak and that weakness is indeed terrifying. 

Like everyone else I am sure, I have wondered how brave I would be in this situation. There is something so moving about watching an old guy try to punch an armed Russian soldier or the women making Molotov cocktails or men leaving stable jobs to return home to fight for their country. The young soldier who gave his life blowing up a bridge or the utter brilliant nonchalance of a man picking up a mine and removing it so that the Ukrainian army could continue, all with a fag in his mouth, is just stunning. Would I pick up a gun or would my first thought be to flee? 

There are many kinds of bravery and we have seen them ourselves recently. The frontline medics who were there for us before the vaccine, the people who risked their lives everyday going to work while we locked ourselves away getting everything delivered to our front doors.

And yet how we have tossed around this word in better times. It wasn’t that long ago that people were calling each other brave for appearing on Instagram with no make up on or declaring oneself non-binary while being in a heterosexual relationship. So what words do we use for what we are seeing today? 

When I was in Calais talking to Syrian, Afghan and Kurdish refugees I was astonished at the way they shirked off their long and dangerous journeys. I understood absolutely why they would cling to the underneath of lorries or get on dinghies to get another 20 miles. To my mind, there is little point in us praising the moral and physical courage of the Ukrainian people if we are not prepared to welcome refugees. For this is what war produces. We cannot sing the praise of Zelensky as I have and let him sacrifice himself for nothing.