As the war for Ukraine continues, the dominant worry in Kyiv these das is not about Russia but the West.

Ukrainians have reason to be worried. Support for their fight is waning in some European countries. An election in Slovakia later this month could bring into power a populist prime minister who is distinctly pro-Russian, which would give Hungary’s Viktor Orban a useful ally in trying to change Europe’s policies. Support for Ukraine is also slipping in the United States.

Many observers believe that the Russians are determined to stay the course until the 2024 elections in the hope that Donald Trump would be elected and that he would quickly hang the Ukrainians out to dry as he searched for a deal with Vladimir Putin. That would be a disaster, legitimizing naked aggression and emboldening dictators such as Putin and China’s Xi Jinping who want to disregard norms and rewrite the rules of the international system.