“THE DARKEST moment of this war is now,” says a Ukrainian intelligence officer. Along roads in the east, tank transporters lumber towards the front line while ambulances speed away from it. In the past few weeks the Russians have ramped up drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and their soldiers are mounting a renewed offensive aimed at creating a breakthrough in the east even as Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, is coming under intense American pressure to sign up to a peace plan that looks much more favourable to Russia than to Ukraine.