In addition to the tragic efforts led by the war criminal Vladimir Putin to level and destroy the beautiful Ukrainian city of Lviv, thereby continuing his crimes against humanity for which he must be prosecuted at some point, the other big event today was the two-hour phone call between Presidents Biden and Xi.

The big question there is whether China will resupply economic and wartime materials to Russia. 

By all reports, Russia is experiencing major shortages. Its economy is in shambles. Its stock market is closed. Its currency is worthless, and while it’s still making money from oil and gas sales, increasingly the private sector in America and Europe is self-sanctioning, adding to the damage to Russia.

I am convinced columnist Holman Jenkins’s idea of escrowing cash from Russian energy sales to Europe is a good one. If President Putin ever makes peace, he can get his money back. Not now, though.  

In terms of the Biden-Xi call, we don’t know what Mr. Xi said about providing more material support to Russia. On deep background, a senior administration official said the president described the implications if China does so, but there were no details.

The national security adviser to the president, Jake Sullivan, last week spent seven hours with his Chinese counterpart and threatened “severe consequences” if China helped Russia. There are never any details about these meetings, though, so we’re not much better off today in our knowledge about this story than we were yesterday.

I want to take a moment to front-run a tremendous Wall Street Journal column by Walter Russell Mead because it’s an important piece. The thrust of it is: “Make Putin pay.” Don’t let him off the hook. Make sure he pays a heavy price for his miscalculation in Ukraine. Mr. Mead says the past two weeks have changed the world. Mr. Putin’s Russia turns out to be weaker and Ukraine stronger than we thought. 

Mr. Mead argues the administration must make opposition to Mr. Putin the core of its global foreign policy. Put climate change aside. Deny Russia any revenue from nuclear trade with Iran. Toughen the oil and gas sanctions. 

Mr. Mead paraphrases a Prussian general of the early 19th century, Carl von Clausewitz, who said, “The key to success is to pursue a retreating enemy. That’s when it’s possible to inflict the greatest damage on his forces.”

I also want to note the importance of today’s Biden-Xi talks as related to Taiwan, about which Mr. Biden has been ambiguous. At one point the president said we would send in Marines and the Navy to defend Taiwan, but then his little minions walked it back. 

Taiwan is so important to U.S. security. Losing Taiwan to China would open the door to great vulnerabilities to the north — to Japan and South Korea; and to the south — to the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, India, and of course New Zealand and Australia. Don’t forget that Taiwan is one of the semiconductor centers powering the world economy.

Let us hope that Mr. Biden was tougher with Mr. Xi on Taiwan than even on Ukraine. It’s hard to say. 

You know Mr. Biden has been the kind of president who is always too little, too late. As my friend, Ambassador Robert O’Brien, always says, he’s like a trader who’s always chasing the market and never catches the best bid.

Maybe he’ll read von Clausewitz about the hot pursuit of a retreating enemy — better advice there than from all the lefties of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. 

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.