Ukraine at war

All of our coverage of the war in one place

Latest analysis

A Roma mother and her children in a village in Ukraine

Ukraine’s Roma have suffered worse than most in the war

Half of them may have fled

Close-up black and white photograph of Volodymyr Zelensky

The war is going badly. Ukraine and its allies must change course

Time for credible war aims—and NATO membership


A Ukrainian soldier looks at artillery fire at the frontline in the Donetsk region

Ukraine is on the defensive, militarily, economically and diplomatically

Russian advances, fatigue among its allies and political divisions at home leave it in a bind


Let Ukraine hit military targets in Russia with American missiles

Hitting back at the forces blasting Ukrainian cities is legal and proportionate

Ukraine is a booming market for Balkan arms makers

It’s not just gangsters buying Serbian and Bosnian ammo these days

Danger in Donbas as Ukraine’s front line falters

Russian fighters are trying to encircle the defenders

Clearing Ukraine’s mines is crucial for global food security, say Howard Buffett and Tony Blair



The military campaigns

A Russian sign reading Ukraine, left, and Russia, right, near the destroyed Russian border post on the Russian side of the Sudzha border crossing.

The rights, wrongs and risks of Ukraine’s Kursk incursion

Ukrainian forces should be careful not to overreach

Ukrainian servicemen drive Soviet-made T-64 tanks in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia.

What next after Ukraine’s shock invasion of Russia?

It could dig in, pull back or grab more as a bargaining chip


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and F-16 aircraft

How much of a difference will Ukraine’s new F-16s make?

Too few to beat Russia’s air force, but a strong symbolic start


Ukraine’s convicts take the fight inside Russia

A hard-bitten officer commands a unit of felons—and dreams of kebabs in Moscow



Life for Ukrainians

Amid the bombs, Ukrainians rediscover the beach

Odessa gives itself permission to tan again



Ukraine’s war has created millions of broken families

Children and wives have been apart from their fathers and husbands for more than two years

A clear-eyed account of Ukraine under siege

Do not underestimate the lunacy of aged dictators, a new book argues

Russia’s latest crime in Mariupol: stealing property

It is seizing homes in order to consolidate control 



Geopolitics

Live fire testing at White Sands Missile Range, of the Army Tactical Missile System

American restrictions on hitting Russia are hurting Ukraine

The Biden administration’s justifications keep changing

Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine is part of his revolution against the West

He is leading Russia into a new phase of strategic confrontation, says Stephen Covington, a longtime NATO adviser



A peace conference over Ukraine is unlikely to silence the guns

Serious negotiations are unlikely to begin before the year’s end at the earliest

How countries rank by military spending

Our analysis shows how NATO allies match up against their rivals

Russia is ramping up sabotage across Europe

The Kremlin believes it is in a shadow war with NATO



Domestic Russia

How Vladimir Putin hopes to transform Russian trade

He believes the country’s future lies with China and India. What could go wrong?

Officials work on the site of a Ukrainian missile strike at an apartment in Belgorod, Russia

Death and destruction in a Russian city

Russians in the border city of Belgorod have become victims too in the war Vladimir Putin launched against Ukraine


 John Hurt in 1984

The Kremlin is rewriting Wikipedia

A new version of history is taking shape


Sergei Shoigu’s sacking points to yet more attrition in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin wants Russia’s armed forces to be better supplied

Russia is struggling to find its missing soldiers

Vladimir Putin’s war has left thousands of searching families in limbo

Vladimir Putin blames an Islamist attack on Ukraine and America

How to use a disastrous security failure to bolster dictatorship



Global economic fallout

Equipment at one of the largest interconnection gas hubs in Europe at Baumgarten an der March, Lower Austria

The West still needs Russian gas that comes through Ukraine

Austria, Hungary and Slovakia are particularly dependent on it

A shopkeeper shines a torch during a blackout in an underground shopping mall in central Kyiv, Ukraine, June 19th 2024

Ukraine has a month to avoid default

Lending to a borrower at war entails an additional gamble: that it will win


A worker turns a valve wheel at a gas well on a Gazprom base in Lensk district, Sakha Republic, Russia

Russia’s gas business will never recover from the war in Ukraine

Hopes of a Chinese rescue look increasingly vain


What do you do with 191bn frozen euros owned by Russia?

The question that now confronts Western policymakers


Explaining the war

Russian Air Force Mil Mi-8 helicopter flying.

The battle between drones and helicopters in Ukraine

Small cheap drones could pose a new threat to expensive Russian craft


A Donetsk People's Republic soldier poses on a motorbike in front of a bloodied stretcher at a frontline field hospital in Mariupol.

Why Russian troops are attacking on motorbikes

New conditions give rise to new tactics


How many Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine?

Four charts illustrate a grim new milestone

Ukraine has a navy that needs no sailors

It does a surprisingly good job of destroying Russian vessels

Russia is ramping up sabotage across Europe

The Kremlin believes it is in a shadow war with NATO



Latest coverage

Europe

Ukraine’s Roma have suffered worse than most in the war

Half of them may have fled

Leaders

The war is going badly. Ukraine and its allies must change course

Time for credible war aims—and NATO membership

Briefing

Ukraine is on the defensive, militarily, economically and diplomatically

Russian advances, fatigue among its allies and political divisions at home leave it in a bind

Europe

Ukraine is a booming market for Balkan arms makers

It’s not just gangsters buying Serbian and Bosnian ammo these days

Leaders

Let Ukraine hit military targets in Russia with American missiles

Hitting back at the forces blasting Ukrainian cities is legal and proportionate

Europe

America keeps Ukraine fighting with its hands tied

Russian missiles blast its cities, but it still cannot strike back

By Invitation

Clearing Ukraine’s mines is crucial for global food security, say Howard Buffett and Tony Blair

With the right sort of technology and financing, it needn’t take a century

Europe

Danger in Donbas as Ukraine’s front line falters

Russian fighters are trying to encircle the defenders

Asia

Taiwan is trying to learn from the wars in Gaza and Ukraine

Could it repel a potential Chinese invasion?

Europe

The West still needs Russian gas that comes through Ukraine

Austria, Hungary and Slovakia are particularly dependent on it

The Economist explains

The battle between drones and helicopters in Ukraine

Small cheap drones could pose a new threat to expensive Russian craft

Europe

American restrictions on hitting Russia are hurting Ukraine

The Biden administration’s justifications keep changing

Europe

Even as it humiliates Russia, Ukraine’s line is crumbling in the Donbas

The shock raid inside Kursk has not distracted the Kremlin from advancing

Finance & economics

How Vladimir Putin hopes to transform Russian trade

He believes the country’s future lies with China and India. What could go wrong?

Europe

The Kremlin is close to crushing Pokrovsk, a vital Ukrainian town

Even as Ukraine raids Russia, it is losing another key battle

Graphic detail

Has Ukraine’s shock raid successfully diverted Russian forces?

Insights from our war tracker

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