La veille

Energy prices are rocketing, inflation is soaring and millions are being starved of grain. Surely Johnson knew this would happen?

He has weaponised food, energy and refugees, spreading economic and political pain across the continent. Sanctions don’t work, a land for peace deal would be a disaster. Only the military route remains

President Zelenskiy and Ukraine want it finished by winter, but Russia still holds the balance of power

Only the boldest leadership can unite the EU against the delusional tyrant in Moscow. The German chancellor has the chance to provide it

Strong measures by Europe could quickly deprive Russia of oil and gas income worth billions, experts say

Russia’s growing isolation has strengthened the ‘siloviki’ who surround the president

As head of state-owned oil firm Rosneft, oligarch commands central place in the economy

On Sunday, Vladimir Putin ordered his nuclear deterrent forces to be placed on a “special regime of combat duty”. The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has now clarified what this meant: the increased manpower devoted to Russia’s strategic nuclear triad: land-based strategic nuclear rocket forces, sea-based nuclear deterrents in the northern and Pacific fleets and its fleet of long-range strategic bomber aircraft that can carry nuclear weapons.

The inventor of the Brics acronym says sanctions against Russia have exposed nations’ dependence on the western economic system

Less than a week into the war, it seems increasingly likely that Vladimir Putin is heading towards a historic defeat. He may win all the battles but still lose the war. Putin’s dream of rebuilding the Russian empire has always rested on the lie that Ukraine isn’t a real nation, that Ukrainians aren’t a real people, and that the inhabitants of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv yearn for Moscow’s rule. That’s a complete lie – Ukraine is a nation with more than a thousand years of history, and Kyiv was already a major metropolis when Moscow was not even a village. But the Russian despot has told his lie so many times that he apparently believes it himself.