German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday he aims to expand economic and diplomatic ties with China, stressing the need for closer cooperation as global tensions remain elevated.
“I attach great importance to maintaining and deepening these relations wherever possible,” Merz said at the start of his inaugural two-day visit to China as chancellor, speaking alongside Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang at a meeting in Beijing.
Merz underlined the importance of working closely with China at a European level. “We share responsibility in the world, and we should live up to that responsibility together,” he said, adding there was “great potential for further growth” on both sides.
Open channels of communication were essential, he said, announcing visits by several ministers in the coming months.
Li described ties with Berlin as “stable.”
He pointed to “changes in the international situation” and, in light of unilateralism and protectionism “in some countries and regions,” called for “jointly safeguarding multilateralism and free trade.”
Five intergovernmental agreements were signed in the presence of Li and Merz, including accords to continue cooperation on climate change and the fight against animal diseases. Agreements were also concluded between the two countries’ football and table tennis associations.
Merz arrived in Beijing earlier in the day and was received with military honours at the Great Hall of the People.
Merz to address fair competition, security issues
He is later due to meet President Xi Jinping for talks and a dinner expected to focus on economic cooperation and security issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine. China is regarded as a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Concerns over fair competition are expected to be on top on the agenda. German businesses have called on Merz to raise issues such as overcapacity and export controls on critical raw materials in China, which overtook the US as Germany’s main trading partner in 2025.
German carmakers in particular have long complained of fierce Chinese competition boosted by domestic subsidies and unequal market access.
Export restrictions introduced last year on rare earths – critical raw materials used in products such as mobile phones and electric motors – have added to the woes and fuelled tensions between Berlin and Beijing.
Merz is being accompanied by a delegation of top business representatives and is also scheduled to visit the southern city of Hangzhou.
He underscored the importance of maintaining a stable relationship with Beijing ahead of his departure on Tuesday evening.
“It would be a mistake to seek to decouple from China,” Merz said. By severing ties with China “we would be shooting ourselves in the foot. We would be ruining our own economic opportunities,” while failing to make the world “a safer place.”
Merz’s first visit to a major Asian power as chancellor was a trip to India in January, in a sign that Germany is looking to diversify its alliances amid a rapidly changing political landscape.
At the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, Merz proclaimed the end of the old rules-based international order and also pointed the finger at Beijing, saying it “systematically exploits the dependencies of others” while trying to reshape the international system to suit its own purposes.
Merz to move Xi on Ukraine?
Germany has long criticized Beijing for maintaining an outwardly neutral stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine, with Merz hoping to convince Xi to back negotiations to an end to the conflict.
“If Xi Jinping were to tell Putin tomorrow to stop, then he would have to stop the day after tomorrow,” the German leader said on Monday at an editorial conference hosted by dpa, noting that China continues to support Russia by purchasing oil and gas and supplying technology for the war.
Beijing is considered Russia’s most important backer since most Western nations cut ties with Moscow following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday stressed that the war in Ukraine should not strain relations between Europe and China and that Beijing supports diplomatic efforts to find a political solution.
Merz said he was hoping for “open discussions” with Xi.
“I simply want to try to understand the president. Conversely, I want to try to explain our position, my personal position in Germany and in Europe, how I view certain global developments, and what we might be able to do together.”
The war in Ukraine has caused direct damage worth $200 billion, and reconstruction will cost billions more, according to a new estimate released on Monday ahead of the fourth anniversary of the conflict.
Between the start of the war on February 24, 2022, and the end of December last year, the total damage amounts to $195.1 billion, according to a joint report by the World Bank, the European Commission, the Ukrainian government and the United Nations.
The reconstruction of the country is likely to require a total of $587.7 billion over the next 10 years.
Housing, transport and energy infrastructure have borne the brunt of the damage. Damage to housing alone is estimated at more than $60 billion, and the transport sector about $40 billion.
“As of December 31, 2025, 14% of housing has been damaged or destroyed, impacting over 3 million households,” the report said.
In geographical terms, the damage caused was mainly spread across eastern Ukraine and the region around the capital Kiev. Some 75% of the total damage was recorded in front-line areas.
Much of money needed for reconstruction needs to go to housing, transport and energy, the report said. But funds for trade and industry as well as agriculture, social security, income generation and the disposal of leftover explosives were also needed, it said.
In the last such report covering the period up until the end of 2024, the estimate of the total reconstruction cost was $524 billion.
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said that the bloc would “continue to play a key role in supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery by mobilizing more private investments through the Ukraine Investment Framework, and by encouraging key reforms through the Ukraine Plan that will attract investment and bring Ukraine closer to EU membership.”
According to the report, at least $20 billion had been collected since February 2022 for particularly urgent repairs and other urgent projects. According to previous World Bank figures, $88.2 billion in financial aid was collected between the start of the war and mid-January 2026.
The UN’s humanitarian coordinator, Matthias Schmale, said that rebuilding Ukraine was not just about money. “Refugee return, veteran reintegration and women’s labour force participation will shape economic recovery as much as capital flows and rebuilding infrastructure,” he said.
Prices have risen steadily in Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in Ukraine [BBC]
“Life is becoming more expensive,” complains Alexander, a Moscow-based advertising specialist who works for a big corporation.
In the course of one month his monthly food budget soared by more than 22% – from 35,000 roubles (£330; $450) to 43,000 (£406; $555).
With Russia’s economy hanging somewhere between stagnation and decline, ordinary Russians have begun to feel the pinch from the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine, as it approaches its fourth anniversary.
The cost of almost all essentials has gone up in local supermarkets, from eggs and chicken fillets to seasonal vegetables, Alexander has noticed. We have changed the names of everyone we have spoken to for this piece.
Even his daily treat on the way to work – an Americano from a local cafe – has suddenly surged 26% from 230 to 290 roubles.
Russians have noticed a sharp increase in food prices since the start of the year [Getty Images]
Prices have risen steadily in Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, driven by a federal budget dominated by the war effort and defence industry.
This in turn has led to rapid economic growth and raised living standards across the country.
Until now, high levels of inflation have gone largely unnoticed by the general population, especially in the big cities such as Moscow and St Petersburg. Big spending masked the mounting economic consequences of the war, as well as Western sanctions and the exodus of foreign investment from Russia.
That rapid economic growth slowed sharply in 2025, and as salaries could no longer keep up with inflation, rising prices started to hit people’s pockets.
Then at the start of 2026, supermarket prices jumped by a sharp 2.3% in less than a month, according to data from Russia’s statistics service Rosstat.
Everything became more expensive at the start of the year: meat, milk, salt, flour, potatoes, pasta, bananas, soap, toothpaste, socks, laundry detergent, and many medicines too.
Every other January since 2019, the BBC has bought the same selection of 59 basic goods from the same supermarket chain, Pyaterochka, in Moscow. The basket includes vegetables and fruits, dairy and meat products, canned goods and instant noodles, sweets and beverages, including beer.
In 2024, the basket cost 7,358 roubles (£63; $83). Last month, it cost 8,724 (£83; $112) roubles – an increase of 18.6%.
That tallies with Rosstat’s own 18.1% measure of overall accumulated food inflation from January 2024 to the end of January 2026.
One of the most noticeable price increases in our basket has been a hike of almost 15% in the cost of fruit and vegetables since 2024.
Russia relies on imported fruit and vegetables, so store prices are highly sensitive to fluctuations in the rouble exchange rate and disruptions in the supply chain. Both occurred after the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
At the same time, the price of dairy products – which tend to be locally produced – has soared 41%, the biggest rise in our sample basket in the last two years. This is because Russia’s dairy industry has been hit by rising farm costs, expensive loans and staff shortages.
The most recent factor influencing price rises is a two-point increase in VAT from 20% to 22% since 1 January.
The sales tax hike is directly related to the war in Ukraine, as Russia’s finance ministry said it was needed to finance the country’s “defence and security”.
Dairy products have seen the biggest price surge in BBC’s basket in the last two years [Getty Images]
While Alexander from Moscow told the BBC he was not going to change his eating habits, others say rising food prices have hit their diets and family budgets significantly.
Nadezhda, 68, says she can no longer afford to buy beef and has resorted to cheap varieties of fish.
She and her husband, who are both retired, live in Moscow on their state pensions and his additional income. Nadezhda says her entire monthly pension of almost 32,000 roubles (£302; $413) now goes on food.
That means other expenses have been put on hold.
They had been saving to fix their car, but recently had to rely on savings to pay for food. Similarly, buying a new winter jacket for Nadezhda’s husband, which would have cost about 17,000 roubles (£160; $220), will have to wait until next year.
Kristina, a Moscow marketing specialist in her mid-40s, also had dig into her savings to buy food last month. She lives with her husband, who is a personal trainer, and says she has started paying attention to discounts and has noticed others in supermarkets doing so as well.
“Now I take a very pragmatic approach: not what I want or don’t want to eat, but how much protein is in 100 grams of this product,” Kristina says.
She and her husband can no longer afford to eat out, but even when cooking at home, the price of a dinner for two has more than doubled – from around 1,000 roubles (£9.46; $12.92) to more than 2,000 roubles (£18.91; $25.85).
In summer 2025, Russia’s Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said that the economy was close to a “scenario of balanced rates of economic growth”.
However, some economists suggest that after slowing down significantly last year, the Russian economy is now at risk of going into the red.
One of the main risks this year will come from the oil market.
The federal budget is based on a high oil price, but market rates have fallen since the start of this year and there is no expectation of any imminent rise.
Russian oil sales have also been hit by latest US sanctions that have cut off supplies to one of Moscow’s main trading partners, India.
As a result, Russian authorities are likely to face a bigger budget deficit than they had planned.
Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin paying a visit to India in December last year, India’s Russian crude imports have fallen since the beginning of 2026 under pressure from US [Getty Images]
Borrowing is difficult due to high interest rates – few are willing to lend to a country currently waging war and with a reputation for being unreliable.
That could mean further unpopular measures – either further tax rises, which would hurt people and businesses, or cutting budget spending, primarily in the public sector. That would slow down the economy and bring down household incomes further.
“Overall, there is a trend towards stagnation and a possible decline in GDP,” Tatiana Mikhailova, an economist and visiting assistant professor at Penn State University, told the BBC.
For the moment nothing indicates the economy is in decline, but she believes there is a high likelihood of it happening.
“Every time oil prices fall, a recession is possible in Russia,” she says, even if she believes the economy can carry on without growth for some time.
That may be of little comfort to ordinary Russians, who will still feel the effects in their pockets.
A Kenyan family is seeking answers and support to repatriate the body of their 29-year-old relative, who was killed in Ukraine while fighting for Russia.
Clinton Nyapara Mogesa, 29, initially left Kenya for a job in Qatar in 2024, and his family later learned that he had then travelled to Russia.
On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities reported that he had died in a so-called “meat assault” – one involving high casualty numbers – in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, after being recruited in Qatar. They said the Russians did not evacuate his body, and he was carrying the passports of two other Kenyans.
His death comes amid growing concerns about Kenyans being recruited to fight in the war in Ukraine.
Mogesa’s family told local Citizen TV that they had sold land to raise money for him to travel to Qatar in search of employment.
“His death has shocked us,” his brother Joel Mogere told the station. He said Mogesa was the last-born and “the breadwinner and the hope of this family”.
His mother, Mellen Moraa, said she was diabetic and that her son used to pay for her medication and take care of her, and said she did not know what to do.
“I plead with the government for help,” she added.
The government last month said that 18 Kenyans who had been fighting in Russia had been rescued and repatriated.
Last November, Kenya’s foreign minister said about 200 Kenyans were known to be fighting for Russia and that recruitment networks were still active.
Other African countries have reported cases of young people being approached with offers of lucrative jobs in Russia that later led to military recruitment.
Ukraine’s intelligence assessment estimates that more than 1,400 people from 36 countries in Africa have been recruited to fight for Russia.
Ukraine has in the past repeatedly warned that anyone fighting for Russia would be treated as an enemy combatant, with the safe route out being to surrender.
Ukraine’s intelligence agency on Saturday cautioned foreign nationals against travelling to Russia or accepting employment there, particularly informal or illegal work.
It said travelling there “carries a real risk of being forcibly deployed to assault units without adequate training and with little to no chance of survival”.
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[Getty Images/BBC]
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KYIV, Ukraine — Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least one person and wounded 31 overnight into Saturday as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States were to meet in the United Arab Emirates for a second day of talks to end Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion.
One person was killed and four were wounded in Russian drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko.
In Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, drone attacks wounded 27 people, Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday.
The attacks came as envoys were expected to meet in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, for a second day of talks on Saturday. The talks are the first known instance that officials from the Trump administration have sat down with both countries as part of Washington’s push for progress to end Moscow’s nearly 4-year-old invasion.
The UAE’s foreign ministry said the talks are part of efforts “to promote dialogue and identify political solutions to the crisis.” The White House described Friday’s first day as productive.
Following the latest attacks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin over the onslaught.
“Cynically, Putin ordered a brutal massive missile strike against Ukraine right while delegations are meeting in Abu Dhabi to advance the America-led peace process,” Sybiha wrote on X. “His missiles hit not only our people, but also the negotiation table.”
There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent days, from Switzerland to the Kremlin, even though serious obstacles remain between both sides.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday that a potential peace deal was “nearly ready,” certain sensitive sticking points – most notably those related to territorial issues – remain unresolved.
Just hours before the three-way talks began, Putin discussed a Ukraine settlement with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during marathon overnight talks. The Kremlin insists that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but has not fully captured.
BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Thursday announced the expulsion of a Russian diplomat over a case in which a woman was arrested on suspicion of supplying information related to the war in Ukraine to an intelligence contact at Moscow’s embassy in Berlin.
The Foreign Ministry said in a social media post that “the German government doesn’t tolerate espionage in Germany, still less under the disguise of diplomatic status.” It said it summoned the Russian ambassador and told him it was expelling “the person in question who spied on behalf of Russia.”
The main suspect in the case, a German-Ukrainian dual citizen, was arrested in Berlin on Wednesday. Federal prosecutors said she had been in contact since at least November 2023 with a man at the Russian Embassy who worked for a Russian intelligence service.
They alleged that, on various occasions, she supplied him with information linked to the war in Ukraine. She allegedly helped with inquiries about defense industry locations, drone tests and planned drone deliveries to Ukraine, and turned to former employees in “the area of operations of the Defense Ministry” who were personal acquaintances.
The woman also occasionally helped her Russian Embassy contact visit political events in Berlin under aliases so that he could make contacts for Russian intelligence, prosecutors said.
The Defense Ministry said the investigation also involves two former German military employees, one of them a recently retired officer, who are suspected of disclosing information to the main suspect.
German authorities have arrested a woman suspected of spying for a Russian intelligence agency and passing on information related to the war in Ukraine, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The German-Ukrainian national, who was taken into custody in Berlin, is believed to have been in contact with a middleman at the Russian Embassy in the German capital who worked for a Russian intelligence service, according to the Federal Public Prosecutors’ Office.
Since November 2023 at the latest, the suspect provided the contact with “information relating to the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine” on several occasions, Germany’s top law enforcement agency said in a statement.
More specifically, the woman is accused of gathering background on participants in “high-profile political events” as well as “information on the locations of the arms industry, drone tests and planned deliveries of drones to Ukraine.”
To that end, she also contacted former German Defence Ministry employees “whom she knew personally.”
Officers raided several properties linked to the woman as well as addresses connected to two further suspects in the case in the state of Brandenburg, just outside Berlin, as well as in Munich and in western Germany.
According to military sources, investigators are also looking into two former members of Germany’s armed forces – a recently retired staff officer and a senior civil servant who left the Bundeswehr more than 15 years ago.
Both men are suspected of “disclosing official information to an accused intermediary who was allegedly acting on behalf of the Russian intelligence service and was detained today,” sources told dpa.
The German-Ukrainian national is also believed to have helped her embassy contact to attend political events in Berlin under an alias in order to establish contacts relevant to the secret service.
The woman is set to be brought before a magistrate at the Federal Court of Justice who will decide on possible pre-trial detention.
President Trump initially said he was giving Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelinsky until Thursday to accept the peace plan, but yesterday President Trump told reporters this is not his final offer. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened. If I were president, it never would have happened. We’re trying to get it ended one way or the other. We have to get it. The plan gives in to many Russian demands, including that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelinsky has rejected on multiple occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory to Russia. Over the weekend, senators on both sides of the aisle said they spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told them the Peace plan President Trump pushing Kiev to accept is actually *** wish list of the Russians and not the actual proposal offering Washington’s positions. Now Rubio denied this and claims that the plan was authored by the US with input from Ukraine and Russia. Zalinsky said on Friday the pressure on Ukraine is at its most intense, adding he will work quickly and calmly with the US and its partners to end the war at the White House. I’m Rachel Herzheimer.
President Trump’s Ukraine peace plan faces criticism from senators
President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the Ukraine-Russia war is under scrutiny from senators, including Republicans, who argue it favors Russia and leaves Ukraine vulnerable.
President Donald Trump’s plan to end the nearly four-year Ukraine-Russia war is drawing criticism from senators, including some Republicans, who say it strongly favors Russian President Vladimir Putin and puts Ukraine in a vulnerable position. This comes as top U.S., European, and Ukrainian officials meet Sunday in Switzerland to discuss President Trump’s plan to end the war.”It rewards aggression. This is pure and simple. There’s no ethical, legal, moral, political justification for Russia claiming eastern Ukraine,” Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said of Trump’s proposal.”We should not do anything that makes (Putin) feel like he has a win here,” said Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.Trump initially said he was giving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to accept the peace proposal, but later said it was not his final offer.”The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened. If I were president, it never would have happened. We’re trying to get it ended one way or the other. We have to get it ended,” Trump said.The plan reportedly accommodates many Russian demands, including concessions that Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected, such as ceding large areas of territory to Russia. Over the weekend, senators from both parties said they spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who informed them that the peace plan Trump is urging Kyiv to accept is actually a “wish list” of the Russians and not the actual proposal reflecting Washington’s positions. Rubio denied this, claiming that the plan was authored by the U.S. with input from Ukraine and Russia. Zelenskyy said Sunday that “a positive result is needed for all of us” and that he will continue to work with American and European partners to end the war. Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:
WASHINGTON —
President Donald Trump’s plan to end the nearly four-year Ukraine-Russia war is drawing criticism from senators, including some Republicans, who say it strongly favors Russian President Vladimir Putin and puts Ukraine in a vulnerable position.
This comes as top U.S., European, and Ukrainian officials meet Sunday in Switzerland to discuss President Trump’s plan to end the war.
“It rewards aggression. This is pure and simple. There’s no ethical, legal, moral, political justification for Russia claiming eastern Ukraine,” Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said of Trump’s proposal.
“We should not do anything that makes (Putin) feel like he has a win here,” said Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Trump initially said he was giving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to accept the peace proposal, but later said it was not his final offer.
“The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened. If I were president, it never would have happened. We’re trying to get it ended one way or the other. We have to get it ended,” Trump said.
The plan reportedly accommodates many Russian demands, including concessions that Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected, such as ceding large areas of territory to Russia.
Over the weekend, senators from both parties said they spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who informed them that the peace plan Trump is urging Kyiv to accept is actually a “wish list” of the Russians and not the actual proposal reflecting Washington’s positions. Rubio denied this, claiming that the plan was authored by the U.S. with input from Ukraine and Russia.
Zelenskyy said Sunday that “a positive result is needed for all of us” and that he will continue to work with American and European partners to end the war.
Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:
The premier of the eastern German state of Saxony is calling for energy to be sourced from Russia again after the end of the war in Ukraine.
“It must be in our interest to resume energy supplies from Russia after a ceasefire,” Michael Kretschmer told the Funke media group on Saturday.
“Russia must be a trading partner again in the future – without us becoming dependent on it again.” Good economic relations also increase Germany’s security, he said.
Kretschmer, who is from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has repeatedly spoken out in favour of resuming Russian gas supplies when the war eventually ends. He has been criticized for this even from within the ranks of his own party.
The European Union has imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Moscow over the war in Ukraine, now into its fourth winter.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has characterized the measures as economic warfare. He has repeatedly pointed out that Europe in particular is suffering as a result.
Kretschmer said Germany “must also consider the sanctions against Russia from our own economic perspective.” German energy policy is leading to deindustrialization, he argued.
Asked whether he felt threatened by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kretschmer replied that “Russia has attacked another country. Therefore, we must position ourselves to defend ourselves.”
This can only be achieved if Germany is economically strong, he said.
PARIS — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and America’s use of economic force to achieve goals signal the end of a world order based on respect of sovereignty and crisis resolution through negotiation, and indicate the resurgence of empires, French Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre Schill said.
The world is experiencing a turning point that may be at least equivalent to the end of the Cold War, and possibly comparable to the First World War, Schill said at a presentation of his first book, “Le sens du Commandement,” which roughly translates as the meaning of command, at La Procure bookstore in central Paris last week
“Faced with empires, one is either an enemy or a vassal,” Schill said. The question for Europe and France is now, “how can we influence our destiny so as not to be vassalized in this world that is coming?” the commander of the French land forces said.
Schill said Europe’s strength lies in the collective, through the European Union and NATO – both the EU and NATO treaties include mutual defense commitments. For France, that means “we can unfortunately – and this is both the tragedy and the strength – be drawn into the mechanism of a major commitment, even if we don’t have a threat on our borders.”
Within the changed geopolitical environment, the war in Ukraine may represents a shift similar to World War I, which Schill likened to “an industrial revolution superimposed on a war, or a war superimposed on an industrial revolution.”
French Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre Schill inspects a drone at the Eurosatory defense show in Paris in 2024. (Rudy Ruitenberg/staff)
Whereas at the beginning of WWI, electricity was in its infancy and oil hardly used, with no air planes and few cars, “by the end, all of this had developed in an absolutely extraordinary way” as two huge blocs poured all their might into the war, generating intense momentum within this industrial revolution, according to Schill.
“Perhaps today we are experiencing something similar, with the industrial revolution of digital technology, drones, outer space with its use of satellites, and automation,” Schill said. “Perhaps it is crystallizing around this absolutely enormous battle happening before our eyes in Eastern Europe.”
The future will bring “tougher, larger-scale wars” that put logistics back at the forefront, according to Schill, who called it “absolutely essential that our army adapts to the world that is coming,” including by tweaking its structures and adding artillery for deep fires. Other questions to consider are the return of conscription and increasing France’s number of reservists, the general said.
In the new world, one source of power will likely be the ability to adapt to evolving technologies, including at lower echelons, according to the French Army chief.
“The modern world and the world of future combat will in any case be a world in which adaptation and adaptability will be essential,” Schill said. “We need to adopt a mindset of continuous innovation, not only in terms of technology, but also tactics.”
Schill advocated for command by intent, which fixes objective and purpose but allows for initiative at lower echelons, as the command method best adapted to modern combat, as well as the current generation of young recruits looking for purpose.
“Command through meaning, through clear objectives, and through subsidiarity, and which makes clear the framework in which we’ll operate, seems to me well suited to the challenges and of our time and its complexity,” Schill said.
Whereas the French military has a long tradition of summary orders with room for initiative, there has been a shift towards a more detailed and complex style of command, according to Schill. He cited reasons including France’s adoption of the precautionary principle, increasingly powerful command systems integrating AI and the development of international interoperability procedures.
The general cited the retreat from Cao Bang in Indochine in 1950, where around 3,700 French troops were lost, as a prime example of an operation where “the plan was perfect, the plan was precise,” and when the reality on the ground changed, the order to follow the plan to the letter contributed to the eventual defeat.
During the operation, two columns of evacuating French troops were to meet up south of Cao Bang, with no contingency plan if the maneuver failed.
Schill cited the liberation of Paris by the 2nd Armored Division led by Gen. Philippe Leclerc in 1944 as a counterexample of a victorious operation that focused on objectives and left room for initiative, with no more than half a page of orders.
“So faced with this complexity in the world, it’s important to continue to have initiative at the lower levels, because that’s where the maximum effectiveness will be.”
KYIV, Ukraine — Power was restored to over 800,000 residents in Kyiv on Saturday, a day after Russia launched major attacks on the Ukrainian power grid that caused blackouts across much of the country, and European leaders agreed to proceed toward using hundreds of billions of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s war effort.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said Saturday that “the main work to restore the power supply” had been completed, but that some localized outages were still affecting the Ukrainian capital following Friday’s “massive” Russian attacks.
Russian drone and missile strikes wounded at least 20 people in Kyiv, damaged residential buildings and triggered blackouts across swaths of Ukraine early Friday.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko described the attack as “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday said the strikes had targeted energy facilities supplying Ukraine’s military. It did not give details of those facilities, but said Russian forces used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and strike drones against them.
The energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its all-out invasion more than three years ago.
Each year, Russia has tried to cripple the Ukrainian power grid before the bitter winter season, apparently hoping to erode public morale. Winter temperatures run from late October through March, with January and February the coldest months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Friday that Russia was taking advantage of the world being “almost entirely focused on the prospect of establishing peace in the Middle East,” and called for strengthening Ukraine’s air defense systems and tighter sanctions on Russia.
“Russian assets must be fully used to strengthen our defense and ensure recovery,” he said in the video, posted to X.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a joint statement on Friday they were ready to move toward using “in a coordinated way, the value of the immobilised Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine’s armed forces and thus bring Russia to the negotiation table.”
The statement added they aimed to do this “in close cooperation with the United States.”
Ukraine’s budget and military needs for 2026 and 2027 are estimated to total around 130 billion euros ($153 billion). The European Union has already poured in 174 billion euros (about $202 billion) since the war started in February 2022.
The biggest pot of ready funds available is through frozen Russian assets, most of which is held in Belgium – around 194 billion euros ($225 billion) as of June – and outside the EU in Japan, with around $50 billion, and the U.S., U.K. and Canada with lesser amounts.
Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that its air defenses intercepted or jammed 54 of 78 Russian drones launched against Ukraine overnight, while Russia’s defense ministry said it had shot down 42 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.
French soldiers have boarded an oil tanker believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”, used to evade sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.
The Boracay left Russia last month and was off the coast of Denmark when unidentified drones forced the temporary closure of several airports last week. It has been anchored off western France for a few days.
President Emmanuel Macron said the crew had committed “serious offences” at an EU leaders’ summit in Copenhagen on Wednesday but did not elaborate.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had no knowledge of the vessel.
AFP news agency quoted a source as saying French military personnel had boarded the vessel on Saturday.
Macron refused to be drawn on the question of whether the ship may have been used as a platform for the drone flights that caused such disruption in Denmark last week.
Prosecutors in Brest have opened an investigation on two counts: refusing an order to stop and failing to justify the nationality of the ship’s flag.
Many Western countries imposed sanctions on Russian energy by limiting imports and capping the price of its oil following Russia’s fill-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
To evade these sanctions, Moscow built up what has been referred to as a “shadow fleet” of tankers whose ownership and movements could be obscured.
Russia is believed to have a fleet of several hundred tankers which are registered in other countries and are used to export its petrol. Macron said that Russia’s shadow fleet contained between 600 and 1,000 ships.
The Boracay, also known as Pushpa and Kiwala, is a Benin-flagged vessel but has been listed under UK and EU sanctions on Russia.
It was detained by Estonian authorities earlier this year for sailing without a valid country flag.
It had set off the Russian port of Primorsk outside Saint Petersburg on 20 September and sailed through the Baltic Sea and past Denmark before entering the North Sea and carrying on through the English Channel.
It had been scheduled to arrive in Vadinar in north-western India on 20 October, according to data from the Marine Traffic tracking website. However it was followed by a French warship after it rounded the Brittany coast and then altered course and headed east towards the French coast.
EU leaders have been meeting in Copenhagen under pressure to boost European defence after a series of Russian incursions into EU airspace, and days after drones targeted Danish airports.
Copenhagen airport, followed by several Danish airports and military sites on the Jutland peninsula, faced drone disruption last week.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters that “from a European perspective there is only one country… willing to threaten us and that is Russia, and therefore we need a very strong answer back”.
Danish police have not found any evidence that Russia was behind last week’s drone disruption, but Frederiksen linked it explicitly to other hybrid attacks such as Russian drones over Poland.
It was part of a pattern that had to be viewed from a European perspective, she told reporters on Wednesday.
The incursions have become most acute for countries on the EU’s eastern flank such as Poland and Estonia.
A number of member states have already backed plans for a multi-layered “drone wall” to quickly detect, then track and destroy Russian drones.
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack targeting regions across Ukraine early Saturday, killing at least three people and wounding dozens more, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said attacks took place across nine regions, including Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy and Kharkiv.
“The enemy’s target was our infrastructure, residential areas and civilian enterprises,” he said, adding that a missile equipped with cluster munitions struck a multi-story building in the city of Dnipro.
“Each such strike is not a military necessity but a deliberate strategy by Russia to intimidate civilians and destroy our infrastructure,” he said in a statement on his official Telegram.
Zelenskyy said he expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week. He also said the first ladies of Ukraine and the United States would likely hold separate talks focused on humanitarian issues involving children.
His comments, which he made on Friday, were embargoed until Saturday morning.
At least 30 people were wounded in the attack in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, local governor Serhii Lysak said. Several high-rise buildings and homes were damaged in the eastern city of Dnipro.
In the Kyiv region, local authorities said there were strikes in the areas of Bucha, Boryspil and Obukhiv. A home and cars were damaged. In the western region of Lviv, Gov. Maxim Kozytsky said two cruise missiles were shot down.
Russia launched 619 drones and missiles, Ukraine’s Air Force said in a statement. In total, 579 drones, eight ballistic missiles and 32 cruise missiles were detected. Ukrainian forces shot down and neutralized 552 drones, two ballistic missiles and 29 cruise missiles.
“During the air strike, tactical aviation, in particular F-16 fighters, effectively worked on the enemy’s cruise missiles. Western weapons once again prove their effectiveness on the battlefield,” the Air Force said in a statement.
Russia denies violating Estonia’s airspace
Russia’s Defense Ministry denied its aircraft violated Estonia’s airspace, after Tallinn reported three fighter jets crossed into its territory on Friday without permission and remained there for 12 minutes.
The incident, described by Estonia’s top diplomat as an “unprecedentedly brazen” incursion, happened just over a week after NATO planes downed Russian drones over Poland, heightening fears that Moscow’s war on Ukraine could spill over.
In an online statement published early Saturday, Moscow stressed its fighter jets had kept to neutral Baltic Sea waters more than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Estonia’s Vaindloo Island in the Gulf of Finland.
“On September 19, three MiG-31 fighter jets completed a scheduled flight from Karelia to an airfield in the Kaliningrad region,” it said, referencing the Russian enclave sandwiched between Polish and Lithuanian territory.
“The flight was conducted in strict compliance with international airspace regulations and did not violate the borders of other states, as confirmed through objective monitoring,” the statement said without providing details about the monitoring operation.
On Friday, Estonian officials said Tallinn had summoned a Russian diplomat to protest, and also moved “to start consultations among the allies” under NATO’s Article 4, which states that parties would confer whenever the territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened.
Zelenskyy hopes to finalize security guarantees in New York meetings
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine and its partners have laid the groundwork for long-term security guarantees and that he hopes to gauge how close they are to finalizing such commitments during next week’s meetings in New York.
He said European nations are prepared to move forward with a framework if the United States remains closely engaged. He noted that discussions have taken place at multiple levels, including among military leadership and general staffs from both Europe and the U.S.
“I would like to receive signals for myself on how close we are to understanding that the security guarantees from all partners will be the kind we need,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said sanctions against Russia must remain on the table if peace efforts stall, and that he plans to press the issue in talks with Trump.
“If the war continues and there is no movement toward peace, we expect sanctions,” he said, adding that Trump is looking for strong steps from Europe.
Americans are already casting their votes for president. The 538 polling site has Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of former president Donald Trump nationally by one to two points, with the seven battleground states even closer, or slightly favoring Trump. This divided electorate is on edge, as key topics such as abortion access, immigration, gun rights, and climate change take center stage.
As November 5 comes barreling down on America, halfway around the world Ukrainians are bracing for the results of an election that could decide the fate of their war-torn country. Over the past two and a half years, President Biden has provided material and moral support for Ukraine as it fights to survive the Russian invasion. Harris has backed Biden’s stance, but only briefly spotlights Ukraine on the campaign trail. In contrast, Trump has stated that he would end the war on day one of his term, although he’s offered no substantive plan. He has, however, said in the past that he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries who fail to meet defense spending criteria.
For Ukrainians, the stakes of the election are high, as it is coming at a time when Moscow’s forces are advancing at the fastest rate in more than two years, despite Ukraine’s recent cross-border incursion into Russia and occupation of parts of the Kursk region. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded with allies to do “everything that can be done” to minimize Russia’s advances on the frontlines, and his administration has deemed the current fight a crucial moment for the country, as both the U.S. election and the winter months draw nearer. Ukraine has been under constant attack over the past few months, and war fatigue permeates the country; many residents simply want the war to end somehow.
“We know that Trump will not support Ukraine. He will cut off all possible support, so it’s obviously only one option.”
On the streets of Kyiv, the capital city, and over the Telegram messaging app from other regions, I asked Ukrainians who had been living in their country over the course of the war, as well as refugees living abroad, who they are hoping will win the election: former president Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris. What I found was a division not unlike the one in the U.S. For the most part, those living in Kyiv wanted Harris to win the election, seeing her as the only candidate who would help Ukraine continue the fight for its existence and the mission to liberate all Russian-occupied land in the process. Residents of eastern Ukraine, however, where Russian-backed fighters first attacked in 2014, a conflict that has been subsumed in the larger Russian invasion of 2022, voiced the hope for an end to the war sooner. Some feel that Trump, who has repeatedly stated that he would end the war in the early days of his presidency, is the candidate who can do so.
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The war in Ukraine has carried on for the past two and a half years. Over that time, the U.S. has been a steadfast supporter of Ukraine. Now, the U.S. is preparing for the 2024 presidential election, and the outcome might determine Ukraine’s future. Who do you want to win the election, and why?
Natalia, 86, Kyiv If Kamala Harris will help and support Ukraine, then of course, it’s better for Kamala Harris…. Because Trump, in general, seems to me to be not serious. Well, in general, it’s hard for me to believe that Kamala will win. I don’t believe she will win.
Yevheniia, 27, operations manager from Mariupol, now in Kyiv I’m trying to always be in this political bubble and try to understand at least something about American political elections. I know that is a kind of huge deal, especially for Americans, because it’s two completely different parties, Republicans and Democrats. When I saw that Biden was not stable, I was completely lost. I thought, we’re gonna be gone, because we really need this. We rely on it. And it’s also very nervous for us, too.
L: Damage from Russian attacks in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine; R: Another damaged wing of the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital.ANNA CONKLING
Then, I saw Kamala Harris. I didn’t understand who [she was] exactly. I’m trying to find any information about her, and I don’t understand what she is thinking about our country. This kind of European thing in me really wants Kamala, I guess. She looks younger than Trump, and kind of more normal.
Oksana, 39, psychologist for Voices of Children, Bakhmut We’re observers of the process of election in America, but of course, we understand that it can influence our life and the existence of our country. In case Russia wins, I have to escape, because I work with kids who are brought back from deportation. My husband serves in the army, so we can’t live in this country.
The only way out for us is to win. Emotionally, I like Trump because he’s an extraordinary guy. He’s unpredictable. As a psychologist, he’s interesting. Nobody can predict his next step, but I think that he’s a really strong man. But I’m not sure that he will take our side, and that’s why Kamila [sic] Harris is closer, and more clear, and more understandable.
For me, as a Ukrainian woman, as a mother, as a wife of a soldier, as a psychologist who works with kids, it is important to see someone who will help us.
“Donald Trump, because he will stop the war.”
Eva, 32, graphic designer from Kharkiv, refugee in Dubai Democrats obviously, because their politics toward Ukraine is quite straightforward and supportive, in a way. The other party is unpredictable, and we’d love to expect the same level of solidarity from them, but I hardly believe it could happen.
Natalia, 68, Kyiv Well, honestly, we have a lot of our own problems, but seeing how the current American president, Biden, helps Ukraine in solving many issues, we are for him. [I am] for women. For Harris. I don’t see any changes in American politics or in the American economy which is very much good for the American people. But the main decisive issue is for the people of America because they live there.
Anton, 40, information technology, Kyiv It’s obviously Kamala Harris. We are supporting her and we know a lot about elections in America. We know that Trump will not support Ukraine. He will cut off all possible support, so it’s obviously only one option. We are standing for democrats as our country is also democratic, so we obviously will support only Kamala Harris. I read a lot of news in the Telegram channels, and people mostly say that they support only Kamala Harris. It’s obvious choice for Ukraine, for Ukrainian citizens.
I heard about how [Speaker of the House] Mike Johnson commented that Trump will cut off the war in the first day. And people jokingly said [Trump] will call Putin, say something like, “Vladimir, please stop this war. You need to calm down.” And he will say, “Please speak Russian. I don’t understand anything.”
Personally, if you ask me, I have a lot of concerns about [at this point, Anton searched for the appropriate English words, then was able to convey to me his concern about Trump’s relationship with Putin]. And I think that he will play the time for Putin. So, he will not stop the war. It’s not possible. They will simply not stop somewhere in Donbas or take some small city, big city. They simply will not stop there. Their specific line is somewhere behind Poland.
L: Oksana, 39, feels that “The only way out for us is to win.” R: Yevheniia, 27, with her daughter, says, “This kind of European thing in me really wants Kamala, I guess.”ANNA CONKLING
Alexandra, 23, language teacher from Dnipro, refugee in France If you look from the point of view of Ukraine, I’m in favor of Trump. Because he will not sponsor this war, and he has a real plan to come to negotiations and a truce.
I listened to his speech, and he said he could press Putin to make peace. Yes, we will lose a lot of territories, but we will be guaranteed that we will be part of the European Union and NATO. This will give us a guarantee that such a terrible war will not happen again.
Everyone is so tired in Ukraine from the corruption. When I read that America or other countries are sending us monetary support, I think, Oh no, please send weapons, but not money. All the people are very tired of the war. They all want to go back to normal life. Unfortunately, it seems to me that without negotiations, this will not end.
Ekaterina, 38, marketing, Kharkiv Donald Trump, because he will stop the war. He expressed his position on this issue, the speedy cessation of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine.
Vladimir, 45, actor, Kharkiv The thing is, neither Trump nor Harris appeals to me right now. This entire thing is a public relations campaign for the election, so no one knows what will happen and how any president will act toward Ukraine, so it’s hard to answer. Trump is old. [Kamala] is always laughing, so it gives the impression that she’s an inadequate person.
Elena, 64, dentist, Sumy Whoever among them supports Ukraine and who will continue to help, what they promise. I’m for that one, in short. I’m not interested in anything at all, except for them helping Ukraine. Kamala is there by some kind of accident. Trump already has experience. He is better for the American people. I’m for the one who supports Ukraine best. I don’t care otherwise. ❖
Anna Conkling is a freelance journalist based in New York City who, since the beginning of the Russian invasion, has been corresponding with and on the ground interviewing Ukrainian soldiers, students, and civilians, and writing about them for the Voice and other publications.
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This article is part of a series — At 250, Who Will America Be? — reporting on threats to American democracy as we approach the nation’s Semiquincentennial, on July 4, 2026.
Russia preventing firms from leaving the nation is an example of how Moscow is breaking down market institutions amid its war in Ukraine, a UChicago professor says. Contributor/Getty Images
Russia is breaking down institutions and “borrowing from the future,” Konstantin Sonin says.
The economist notes Russia is taking measures to exert more control over its economy.
But those actions are hurting Moscow’s economic future, Sonin said.
Russia is dealing with an economic “time bomb,” according to one top economist.
Konstantin Sonin, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, said he foresaw a dark economic future ahead for Russia. That’s because the war in Ukraine has put Moscow in a position where it needs to exert more control over the economy, leading it to break down key market institutions and “borrow” funds from the future, Sonin wrote in an op-ed for Project Syndicate on Friday.
Sonin pointed to a handful of measures Russia has taken to prop up its economy, including implementing export restrictions on key commodities to counter Western sanctions.
The change has prompted some companies to issue steep price hikes, Sonin said, and it’s an example of market levers breaking down in the nation.
Russia has also taken steps to block firms from leaving the country. Some companies, like Heineken, have been forced to sell their operations in Russia for as little as one euro.
The Kremlin is also financing the war by “borrowing from the future,” Sonin said, pointing to cuts to key public spending programs, while military spending soars. The Kremlin is still planning to spend more on national defense than healthcare or education for the next two years, according to plans Russia’s finance ministry published in 2023.
“Even more important, Putin’s borrowing from the future takes the form of a gradual, yet pervasive dismantling of the market institutions that the Russian people paid such a high price to acquire during the reforms of the 1990s,” Sonin wrote.
“Investing massively in military production and simultaneously dismantling market institutions may strengthen Putin’s hand in the short term, but it sets a time bomb under longer-term economic development.”
Still, Russia’s economy isn’t close to collapse, Sonin noted. Russia’s GDP is estimated to grow another 3.2% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, which experts have attributed to Moscow’s hefty war spending.
Yet, Sonin sees a challenging economic future.
“Whenever the Ukraine war ends and Russia returns to international trade (beyond raw materials), all the nationalizations of recent years will come back to haunt it. Putin’s war not only imposes on today’s Russians a worse life than they otherwise would have had. It also condemns future generations,” he added.
Other forecasters have also warned of weak growth prospects in Russia over the long run. While GDP continues to grow, longer-term indicators of economic health are in decline, with the nation suffering from a major worker shortage and labor productivity falling more than 3% last year, according to CEIC data.
“In this case, we need to talk not about the likelihood, but about the inevitability [of a conflict]. That’s how we evaluate it,” said Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary.
“These countries must also evaluate and be aware of this, asking themselves whether this corresponds to their interests, as well as the interests of the citizens of their countries,” Peskov added.
Macron’s comments came at the tail end of a summit in Paris, where EU leaders gathered Monday to discuss ongoing support for Kyiv. Macron said defeating Russia is “indispensable” to Europe’s security and stability, and that EU leaders discussed the topic of Western troops in a “very free and direct” manner during the summit.
A domestic backlash quickly grew Tuesday against Macron’s comments, and was followed by Western allies pushing back against the floated move to put soldiers into Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said leaders in Paris agreed that “everyone must do more for Ukraine,” but that “one thing is clear: There will be no ground troops from European states or NATO.”
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the U.K. has no plan for a “large-scale deployment” in Ukraine, and a Spanish government spokesperson said Madrid also disagrees with the idea of deploying European troops.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops have pulled out of a village in the east of the country, an army spokesman said Monday, as Russian forces make their advantages in manpower and ammunition tell on the battlefield at the start of the war ’s third year.
The latest setback for Kyiv’s soldiers was in the village of Lastochkyne, where they fell back to nearby villages in an attempt to hold the line there, Dmytro Lykhovii, a spokesman for one of the Ukrainian troop groupings, said on national television.
Lastochkyne lies to the west of Avdiivka, a suburb of Donetsk city that the Kremlin‘s forces captured on Feb. 18 after a four-month battle. The outnumbered defenders were overwhelmed by Moscow’s military might, and Ukraine chose to pull out its troops and mount a defense elsewhere.
Though not in itself a major loss, abandoning the village illustrates the battlefield challenges Ukraine is currently facing. The new phase of the war has brought some bleak developments for Ukraine.
Despite suffering high losses of troops and equipment, Ukraine says, Moscow’s troops are driving on, smashing towns and cities with their superior firepower.
Western analysts say the Russians are attacking in strength along four parallel axes in the northeast, aiming to press deeper into the Ukraine-held western part of the Donetsk region and also penetrating into the Kharkiv region north of it.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustan Umerov complained Sunday that half of promised Western military support to Ukraine fails to arrive on time. That, he said, makes it hard to undertake proper military planning and ultimately costs the lives of soldiers.
Western leaders have sworn to stand by Ukraine as long as they need to defeat Russia’s full-scale invasion of Feb. 24 2022, and Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov arrived in Kyiv on Monday to show his support.
More than 20 European heads of state and government and other Western officials were due to meet in Paris on Monday to discuss the war at what French President Emmanuel Macron called a “critical” juncture. He says Kyiv needs more military resources and likely will require them over an extended period of time.
U.S. President Joe Biden was also seeking to remove political roadblocks on providing more aid to Ukraine, convening the top four congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday.
Russia launched seven missiles of various types and 14 Shahed drones over Ukraine early Monday morning. Ukraine’s Air Force said it intercepted nine drones and three missiles.
A guided aerial bomb killed a married couple at home in the northeastern Sumy region of Ukraine, regional authorities said.
On the anniversary of Putin’s aggression, however, uncertainty and irritation were undisguised in Kyiv. Ukrainians wanted to know why Western sanctions on Russia are not working, and why Moscow keeps getting components for its missiles from Western companies. Why Ukrainians have to keep asking for weapons; and why the U.S. is not pushing through the crucial new aid package for Ukraine.
“We are very grateful for the support of the United States, but unfortunately, when I turn to the Democrats for support, they tell me to go to the Republicans. And the Republicans say to go to the Democrats,” Ukrainian MP Oleksandra Ustinova said at a separate Kyiv conference on Saturday. “We are grateful for the European support, but we cannot win without the USA. We need the supply of anti-aircraft defenses and continued assistance.”
“Why don’t you give us what we ask for? Our priorities are air defense and missiles. We need long-range missiles,” Ustinova added.
U.S. Congressman Jim Costa explained to the conference that Americans, and even members of Congress, still need to be educated on how the war in Ukraine affects them and why a Ukrainian victory is in America’s best interests.
“I believe that we must, and that is why we will decide on an additional aid package for Ukraine. It is difficult and unattractive. But I believe that over the next few weeks, the US response will be a beacon to protect our security and democratic values,” Costa said.
The West is afraid of Russia, Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s security and defense council secretary, told the Saturday conference.
“The West does not know what to do with Russia and therefore it does not allow us to win. Russians constantly blackmail and intimidate the West. However, if you are afraid of a dog, it will bite you,” he said.
“And now you are losing not only to autocratic Russia but also to the rest of the autocracies in the world,” Danilov added.
The joint plea comes as U.S. Republicans continue to hold out on a fresh funding agreement for the war-torn country, and as European capitals mull their options to constrain Moscow amid signs of fatigue two years on.
“This war is the biggest test of our generation,” the pair write. “A wholly unprovoked invasion. A blatant threat to our collective security. The clearest example of one country trying to extinguish the independence of another.
“Other adversaries are watching how we respond. Will we stand with Ukraine? Will we stand up to Putin’s naked aggression? The consequences of failure will not just be felt in Ukraine — they will remake the world as we know it.”
Cameron, a former British prime minister-turned-foreign-secretary, got short shrift earlier this month when he traveled to Washington to try to drum up support for Ukraine. U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, an ally of Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, told the U.K.’s top diplomat to “kiss my ass.”
But Cameron and Sikorski, who serves as foreign affairs point-man in Donald Tusk’s administration, quote 1996 American comedy film Jerry Maguire as they urge the U.S. and allies to “show me the money.”
“Britain and the EU have committed more funding to Ukraine, and we believe it is in the interest of America — and all of our allies — to do the same,” they write.
This year will be one of “recovery and preparation on both sides, like 1916 and 1941-42 in the last world wars,” said Marc Thys, who retired as Belgium’s deputy defense chief last year with the rank of lieutenant general.
Looking ahead
To assess prospects for the year ahead, POLITICO asked analysts, serving officers and military experts to give their view on the course of the war.
Nobody could provide a precise roadmap for 2024, but all agreed that three fundamentals will determine the trajectory of the coming months. First, this spring is about managing expectations as Ukraine won’t have the gear or the personnel to launch a significant counteroffensive; second, Russia, with the help of its allies, has secured artillery superiority and, together with relentless ground attacks, is pounding Ukrainian positions; and third, without Western air defense and long-range missiles as well as artillery shells, Kyiv will struggle to mount a credible, sustained defense.
“The year will be difficult, no one can predict from which direction Russia will go or whether we will advance this year,” said Taras Chmut, a Ukrainian military analyst and sergeant with the Naval Forces Marine Corps Reserve.
It’s clear, however, that Ukraine is on the back foot.
After many weeks of bloody fighting, Russia finally took the fortress city of Avdiivka this month. Without pausing for a breather, its military proceeded to launch attacks on other key Ukrainian strongpoints and logistical hubs: Robotyne in the region of Zaporizhzia, Kupiansk in Kharkiv, and Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region.
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Joshua Posaner, Veronika Melkozerova, Stuart Lau, Paul McLeary and Henry Donovan
