David Remnick

Ukraine has been fighting off the Russian army and the brutal calculations of Vladimir Putin for more than four years now, longer than the United States fought in the Second World War.

Donald Trump has been reluctant at best about defending Ukraine since the start.

And he said that he'll withdraw American support unless Ukraine makes enormous concessions of territory.

And over the last month, America's war in Iran has only strengthened Putin's hand.

The oil crisis in the Middle East has raised the value of Russian oil exports.

Again and again, Donald Trump threatens to pull the United States out of NATO, which also must really please Vladimir Putin, even if Trump can't actually do it on his own.

Russia is now sending drones to Iran and has provided intelligence to be used against American forces.

All of this was reported recently in the Kiev Independent, an English-language news site.

The editor is Olga Rudenko, who founded the Independent with fellow journalists in Ukraine.

I met Rudenko with some of her colleagues in New York late last year, and we spoke again recently.

She was in her office in Kiev.

Olga, it's very good to see you.

How has life been for you?

Tough because it's the most bombing you've seen in Kyiv since the beginning of the war.

Do you feel forgotten by the West, particularly now that the war in Iran has taken up all the headlines?

Why more so now than before?

Even more ground than it has.

When I would talk to Ukrainians two years ago, three years ago, they would insist that the only way this war ends, in their view, is with the return of all land that has been taken.

and an ability to join the EU and security guarantees from the West.

There was still talk of NATO or some path toward NATO.