Vilnius | On Tuesday, a stage had been professionally rigged up in the central square of Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius. But this was no municipal music festival. A much bigger rock star was in town.

In the city, the Ukrainian flag is as common a sight as Lithuania’s own, and the buses flash “♥ Ukraine” on their destination boards. So, there was no surprise about whom the crowd of thousands had come to see: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.