SOPA Images Limited / Alamy Stock Photo
We learned that the US has ditched some of Ukraine’s red lines before talks have even started,
SMH P.
SOPA Images Limited / Alamy Stock Photo
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, appears to have been relegated to a bystander as decisions about the future of his country are made.
Informal gathering: European leaders meet in Brussels to discuss how to strengthen their defence capabilities.
EPA-EFE/Olivier Hoslet/pool
Europe is finally realising it needs to take more responsibility for its own defence. But this realisation has come very late in the day.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jung-Un is sending thousands of his soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
Pictorial Press/Alamy
North Korea’s pact with Putin means sending thousands of troops to fight in Ukraine. But losses are significant.
EPA-EFE/Sergey Kozlov
Both sides have good reasons for wanting to avoid a deal which freezes the frontlines where they are.
Donald Trump meets President Macron (middle) and President Zelensky (left).
Xinhua/Alamy
Donald Trump is starting to find Vladimir Putin is not as willing to negotiate as he hoped.
Donald Trump meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower in September 2024 in New York.
(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
For Russia, the return of Donald Trump provides a chance to end western sanctions against it, and provide solace for its appalling war losses.
President Donald Trump arrives at a G20 economic summit in Hamburg, Germany, in July 2017 during his first term in office.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Trump’s incoming administration could create certain risks for Germany, including putting more pressure on its weak economy.
A school in Kyiv, Ukraine, that was bombed by Russia on March 18, 2022.
AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File
Wars always include killings and destruction, but there are limits. An expert in international law explains the rules of war laid out in the Geneva Conventions − and why they’re so hard to enforce.
Tartu in Estonia: European capital of culture, 2024.
JLK / Alamy Stock Photo
Insights from working on an Estonian cultural festival.
EPA-EFE/Maxim Shipenkov
Russia’s gas supplies to Europe have fallen from 41% in 2021 to 8% now.
Mikheil Kavelashvili, who has been elected as president of Georgia.
Georgian parliament handout via Xinhua/Alamy
Georgia’s new president was not directly elected after a change to the constitution, and was the only person on the ballot.
Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
A round-up of the biggest global stories this week.
EPA-EFE/Yuri Kochetkov
Messages emerging from Moscow and Brussels are that nothing short of victory will do. But a new Trump administration could change all this.
EPA-EFE/Russian defence ministry
There is mounting evidence that Russia has used banned chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Trump has invited China’s Xi Jingping to attend his inauguration. This is clearly aimed at getting Beijing involved in negotiations over the Ukraine war.
AP Photo/AlexBrandon/Alamy
President Xi is unlikely to see any benefit from working with Donald Trump on peace negotiations for the Ukraine war.
Pavlo Mykyento at work with a metal detector.
Paul Hardisty
‘Smart-mines’, ‘toe-poppers’, trip-wire: Russia has planted millions of such devices in Ukraine. One NGO, now employing Australia’s former ambassador to the country, is bravely tackling the problem.
Alberto Pizzoli/Pool Photo via AP
The OSCE is the only regional security forum where Ukraine and Russia still meet.
American Photo Archive/Alamy
Russia went to war with the west, but it didn’t really notice until recently.
Key facility: Tartus naval base in 2019.
AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko
Tartus is Russia’s only foothold on the Mediterranean coast.