Every week we wrap up essential coverage of the war in Ukraine, from news and features to analysis, opinion and more.
Zelenskiy’s toughest year
Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed western leaders to Kyiv last Saturday on the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, declaring that Vladimir Putin “must lose absolutely everything”. The prime ministers of Italy, Canada and Belgium – Giorgia Meloni, Justin Trudeau and Alexander De Croo – were present as well as the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.
As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, Zelenskiy is facing what may be his toughest year yet, Shaun Walker wrote in an analysis; he must hold together an exhausted society and try to rally splintering international support that has led to a critical shortage of ammunition at the front.
“The decisive moment will be the elections in the United States and then we will be able to understand what is going to happen next,” Zelenskiy told a press conference, perhaps the closest he can come to publicly acknowledging that a Trump presidency is likely to be an absolute disaster for Ukraine.
It may also be a difficult year for Zelenskiy internally. While he still has high approval ratings among Ukrainians, he is no longer seen as untouchable.
Russian pilot killed in Spain
Maksim Kuzminov, a Russian pilot who defected with his helicopter to Ukraine, chose afterwards to take his $500,000 reward and start a new life in Villajoyosa on the Costa Blanca. The fantasy of escape ended on 13 February when gunmen shot the 28-year-old six times in his apartment complex’s underground car park, Luke Harding and Rory Carroll reported.
Kuzminov must have calculated he could blend into the Russian and Ukrainian communities that fill this corner of Spain with Slavic languages, food and faces. He had a new identity – a passport claimed he was Igor Shevchenko – and lived discreetly. But “we all know what happens when you anger Mr Putin”, said a neighbour in a block adjoining Kuzminov’s.
His killing, reportedly with Russian bullets, was met with undisguised glee in Moscow. Sources inside Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said they had warned Kuzminov that if he left the relative safety of Ukraine, Russian assassins could – sooner or later – come after him. The killers’ swift getaway and the lack of witnesses suggest professional surveillance and planning for what is the first Russian state killing in Spain and a case that may prove hard to unravel.
Macron suggests Europe could send ground troops
Emmanuel Macron made the intervention of the week when he suggested it might be necessary to send ground troops to Ukraine, Patrick Wintour, Angelique Chrisafis and Miranda Bryant reported. The French president spoke after calling a meeting in Paris of mainly European partners as Ukraine struggles to hold back Russian advances.
Macron said on Monday: “There is no consensus to officially back any ground troops. That said, nothing should be excluded. We will do everything that we can to make sure that Russia does not prevail.”
Past shibboleths such as sending long-range missiles and planes had been cast aside, Macron said, adding that “people used to say give them just sleeping bags and helmets” – the later remark appearing to be a dig at Germany.
But allies were quick to distance themselves from the idea of sending combat troops – among them the US, Poland, Sweden, and Nato itself. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was blunt, claiming there was agreement at the Paris Ukraine conference “that there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil” from European or Nato states.
Macron did find an ally in Gabrielius Landsbergis, the Lithuanian foreign minister, who said: “Europe’s fate is being decided on the battlefields of Ukraine. Times like these require political leadership, ambition and courage to think out of the box.”
‘Fedir will realise many things when he grows up’
“When I look back on two years ago, giving birth in a bunker, it seems unbelievable,” Ukrainian refugee Viktoria told Jem Bartholomew. “The day after Fedir was born, the shelling started very hard around Kyiv. After I saw a falling shell from my apartment window, we decided to leave. Fedir only got to sleep in his bed for four nights. We were so happy to have Fedir – he was our source of joy and happiness. We stayed in Lviv for three months, then went back to Kyiv, but when the blackouts began around October 2022 we decided to leave.
“In November 2022, we left for Poland, then France, but our car was stolen. Some friends in the UK helped us apply for the visa forms. By the time we arrived in London, even though he was very little, Fedir had already had a lot of life experience. He was walking and began picking up English words by himself. When we took the bus, he would wave at everyone and say: Hello! Bye!
“In January, unable to find somewhere to live in Britain, we came to Dortmund in Germany. We hope to return to the UK in a year or so when Fedir can go to kindergarten and I can work too. Fedir will realise many things when he grows up, but for now I don’t want to tell him scary things.”
As Ukrainian economy burns, Russia prospers
After two years of war, Ukraine’s economy remains on a knife-edge, Larry Elliott and Phillip Inman reported. It needs more than $40bn (£31bn) of western aid this year to balance the books and keep the military equipped. The costs of piecing the country back together again is put at $486bn over 10 years – up from $411bn a year ago. “The last two years have seen unprecedented suffering and loss for Ukraine and its people,” said Antonella Bassani, World Bank vice-president for Europe and central Asia.
By contrast, Russia has emerged from two years of war looking relatively unscathed. Soon after the war started, the International Monetary Fund said it expected the Russian economy to suffer a severe two-year recession – contracting by 8.5% in 2022 and a further 2.3% in 2023.
The economy did shrink in 2022, but only by just over 2%, and in 2023 it grew – according to the latest IMF estimates – by 3%. There is no hard evidence that the war effort has forced ordinary Russians to tighten their belts.
