Deluding himself that Vladimir Putin and his partners, such as Hungary’s Viktor Orban, want to be his friends, former President Donald Trump often puts too much confidence in Putin’s rhetoric. But being that he’s the commander in chief, the leadership buck stops with President Joe Biden. And today at least, it is Biden who is running scared of Putin in Ukraine.

The evidence for that fear is clear. Namely, that the Biden administration continues to reject Ukrainian requests to use U.S.-provided weapons in strikes against military targets inside Russia. We are talking about limited numbers of tactical ballistic missiles and artillery systems here. But Biden’s weakness represents a strategic hesitation that has bedeviled U.S. support for Ukraine since the start of the war. It underlines Biden’s excess fear of Putin’s rhetoric and inadequate recognition of Russian gamesmanship. In so, it indicates Putin’s strategic triumph in holding America’s far greater power in check.