Ukrainians are asking an indelicate question: Why has the West reacted with near-unanimous indignation to Iran’s missile attack against Israel, immediately expressing a willingness to protect its population against further attacks, while failing to help Ukraine protect itself against daily Russian bombardments of its people, cities and infrastructure?

Or as the Wall Street Journal put it: “Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed frustration after the U.S. and its allies swooped in to defend Israel against a massive Iranian attack over the weekend, highlighting the limits of Western support for Kyiv. Ukrainian cities have been under fire for more than two years from Russian missiles and explosive-laden drones of the same type used in Tehran’s attack on Israel.”

Isn’t this a question of double standards, perhaps even of hypocrisy? Yevgeni Kiselev, a leading Russian journalist, asked me that question in an interview on April 15.

The Ukrainians have a point, as a comparison of Ukraine’s and Israel’s relative objective importance, on their own terms and to the West, makes clear.

Start with the obvious. Both nations consist of human beings, and it would be obscene to suggest that either nation matters more, and therefore deserves to live, while the other does not. That Ukrainians outnumber Israelis doesn’t change that fact. Neither country........

© The Hill