New Delhi, Aug. 25 -- On the day Ukraine celebrated thirty-five years of independence, the European Union chose a bill over a speech. The bloc approved €6.1 billion in defence spending for Kyiv on Monday, part of a broader €90 billion loan package, targeting the weapons systems that Ukrainian air defenders have burned through fastest during Russia's sustained aerial campaign - missiles, interceptors, ammunition, and the radar networks that tie them together.

they demonstrate European solidarity with Ukraine while marking, with increasing clarity, the absence of any American representative. The Trump administration sent no envoy to Kyiv for Independence Day.

That absence matters more now than it did a year ago. In June alone,...