Good morning. Today marks four years since Russian tanks first rolled towards Kyiv as Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine – a war he insisted on calling a “special military operation”. The initial assault was repelled, almost certainly to his surprise, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government remained intact to marshal the nation’s defences.
What followed has been widely perceived as a grinding war of attrition. While Russia has made incremental advances across territory it had already destabilised through Moscow-backed separatist republics, Ukraine has been subjected to a relentless aerial assault on its infrastructure – one that western support, from sanctions to air-defence systems and fighter jets, has not been able to halt. Peace initiatives – with varying degrees of sincerity – have come and gone.
