Addressing Congress from Kyiv, one of several Ukrainian cities being leveled by Vladimir Putin’s indiscriminate shelling, President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a thunderous moral clarion call. 

He outlined the horrors Putin has inflicted on Ukraine and laid out their wider implications. This is not merely a tragedy for Ukraine, Zelensky pointed out: It’s a catastrophe for Europe, the worst since World War II.

Russia did not merely assault Ukraine militarily but “threw tanks and planes against [its] freedom.” The war is an offensive against “basic human values.”

Correct. Unchecked Russian aggression in Ukraine is, put simply, an attack on Western sovereignty and the basic tenets of our civilization. For proof, look no further than the civilians on a bread line in Chernihiv killed by Russian shelling. 

Giving terrible impact to Zelensky’s words, a heart-rending video showed the human toll of Russian attacks: the dead, the mutilated, weeping children, refugees boarding trains, families broken apart. 

Zelensky’s invoking of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 reinforced his pleas for aid. While expressing his gratitude for the help sent so far, he reiterated calls for a no-fly zone and, failing that, defense systems and aircraft, as well as ever-harsher sanctions on the aggressor.

His cause, civilization’s cause, deserves that support and more. 

Zelensky’s call for a no-fly zone makes strategic sense given his situation. But — as he pointed out — more forceful US involvement doesn’t mean a no-fly zone or nothing. We can deliver lethal assistance to Ukraine in many ways and help end the air assault without one.

The president can start by giving the US’ blessing to aircraft transfers from Poland — and any other willing country.  

Wednesday saw some good news on that front. The US and its NATO partners are reportedly already sending Soviet-era air defense systems to Ukraine, missiles with an altitude range high enough to take out Russian cruise missiles.

The clear next step is to send Ukraine S-300s, anti-air systems that can hit high-flying Russian planes, by any means necessary as quickly as possible. Rush the transfer of cutting-edge Switchblade drones, too. 

Then there are the numerous (and deniable) cyber efforts against Russian logistics and communications that the US has the tech to unleash.

Biden also needs to stop saying what he won’t do and set clear red lines now as a deterrent to Putin with specific minimum consequences for actions such as deliberately targeting civilians, the use of thermobaric, biological or chemical weapons or military advances that approach NATO states too closely.

Absent such red lines, the Russian strongman will see a clear signal to continue his bloody aggression with no fears of real reprisal. (And these lines need to be as hard as they are clear: Recall the Syrian disasters that unfolded after Barack Obama’s red-line retreat.)

Zelensky finished in English, addressing Biden directly. “It’s not enough,” he said, “to be the leader of your nation. Today takes being the leader of the world.” 

Right again. Step up, Mr. President.