Ukraine’s second city braces for war. Sort of

be occupied” by the Russians, said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky a month ago. A few days later Joe Biden reportedly told him to “prepare for impact”, though the White House later denied the remark. On February 16th, the day that the Russians were scheduled to attack, according to one US intelligence official, the border 45 minutes’ drive north of Ukraine’s second city was being patrolled by three men and a dog. Standing five metres away from Russia, Lieutenant-Colonel Yuri Trubachev of Ukraine’s Border Guard Service said his men had seen “no activity near the border”. Meanwhile three men dressed in snow-suit camouflage and a black Labrador patrolled the dirt track along the frontier.