Analysis: Volodymyr Zelenskiy needs ammunition, not words – but the meetings in Bavaria and Madrid were still highly significant
Over five days, the leaders of the G7 and Nato shifted from the pastoral backdrop of the Bavarian Alps to the more prosaic plains of Madrid, but at no point did they stint on photo opportunities, trumpeting democracy, multi-billion dollar announcements or pledges of unstinting resolve to help Ukraine.
But as the leaders head home to their more mundane domestic challenges, it is legitimate to ask how far these promises in practice change the balance of power on the battlefield, or sow a sliver of doubt in the mind of Vladimir Putin. For although these summits were an exercise in reassurance to domestic electorates, and to a lesser extent to Ukraine, the target audience was really one man: the Russian president.