European leaders gathered in Rome on Thursday for a conference on Ukrainian recovery, but endurance remains the priority. Russia has intensified its assault with punishing strikes far beyond the frontline – including a record 728 drones and 13 missiles one day before the conference. The UN said that civilian casualties last month were at their highest for three years, with at least 232 people killed and 1,343 injured.
Russia’s brutal offensive aims to break Ukraine’s spirit and European solidarity. Even Donald Trump appears to be realising, with encouragement, that Moscow is not interested in peace. For Mr Trump, maximalism is a negotiating tactic; he does not recognise that for Vladimir Putin it reflects a fixation. Yet this week he acknowledged: “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin … He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
