Several other NATO allies—including Denmark, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Spain—have also dispatched material and tactical support to the region. Germany, which has come under recent scrutiny for its tepid backing of Ukraine’s sovereignty, offered 5,000 helmets as its contribution. “What kind of support will Germany send next?,” asked Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko. “Pillows?”

“While the Ukrainians might be overmatched, they could still make it very, very painful and make the Russians fight for every square inch,” Jim Townsend, former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO, told The Dispatch. “Putin doesn’t want a lot of body bags going back.”

Drach, the Kyiv-based director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service, noted that the Ukrainian people are no strangers to armed conflict. “It is important to remember that Ukrainians live in the state of both hybrid war and also real conflict in the east of the country, with real casualties, for years,” she said. “In Ukraine, you would often hear the opinion that it’s not about Ukraine only, it’s about the resilience of the West. It’s a much bigger issue.”