New: Zelenskyy will press Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Russia when they meet next week in New York and urges allies to "stop wasting time". "Everyone is looking to the US," Ze told journalists in Kyiv, saying pressure should be applied to Slovakia & Hungary www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Nothing to see here: just Boris Johnson acting as a fixer for Evgeny Lebedev - the son of a KGB foreign intelligence officer - and introducing him to Elon Musk www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

A wonderful book! Valerian Pidmohylnyi's 1927 novel "The City", in a new English translation by Harvard Library of Ukrainian Lit. It's an extraordinary portrait of Kyiv in the years after the revolution through the eyes of a young writer: his encounters with women (much poor behaviour) & urban life

Good piece by Ken Roth on why Putin invaded #Ukraine. It had nothing to do with "Nato" or "neo-Nazis". Rather, it was about crushing a pro-European democracy on Russia's doorstep, and "quashing" the example that offered to millions of Russians www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Here's my explainer on what security guarantees Ukraine might get in the event of a deal with Russia? Short answer - we don't know - but they could include a European peace-keeping force, led by UK and France, as well as protection for the skies and Black Sea www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Who are Zelenskyy's Oval Office "bodyguards"? My mini-profiles of the European leaders who are meeting with Trump today, together with #Ukraine's president. Their goal: to prevent a repeat of February's WH mugging, when Trump accused Zelenskyy of "having no cards" www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Writers, artists and MPs have urged the Royal Ballet and Opera House to drop the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko from its new season. The singer is a “longtime symbol of cultural propaganda for a regime that Is responsible for serious war crimes” they write www.theguardian.com/music/2025/a...

My piece from Kramatorsk. Putin is demanding Ukrainian troops and civilians leave the eastern city, as part of a "peace deal" to be discussed on Friday with Donald Trump in Alaska. meanwhile, Russia attacks with drones and bombs. Photos by @alessiomamo.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

My story with @alessiomamo.bsky.social on the race to save Ukraine's early medieval stone baba sculptures from the frontline

I spoke to the Guardian's Today in Focus podcast about the anti-government protests in #Kyiv last week and the latest from the frontline, where Russia is going forward. Politics is back, the war grinds on, it's democracy vs autocracy. thanks @helenpidd.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...

youtu.be/fydeKWlsocA?... „NATO should join Ukraine“ Thank you for this good interview, Luke - @lukeharding1968.bsky.social

My dispatch from Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk oblast is the Guardian's Sunday Read. I met Valentyn Velykyi, the last person to leave the shattered village of Maliyivka, occupied yesterday. "That idiot Putin wants it all," he told me. Pix: @alessiomamo.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

I wrote a piece about comedy in Ukraine. The stand-up scene is flourishing! A lot of dark humour about bomb shelters (“even if you tell a bad joke, people will stay”) and Joe Biden (“He’s very similar to Ukrainians. He looks like he can die at any second.”) www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

More protests are expected tonight outside Zelenskyy's presidential office in Kyiv, after he approved a controversial bill weakening two anti-corruption agencies. Europe is unhappy. Civil society is furious. Ukraine's political crisis is growing. My Guardian piece www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

It was another terrible night in Kyiv. My latest report with photos by @alessiomamo.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

I interviewed the deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency. The US has not told Kyiv what weapons will be sent as part of Trump's package worth "billions of dollars" & there is confusion as to how many Patriot batteries will arrive. Probably not "17" www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Russia has been pummelling Ukraine's towns and cities since the start of its full-scale invasion. In recent months the attacks have got dramatically worse. "It's blitz, blitz, blitz," Dartsia Liuba told me, of life under fire in #Kyiv. My dispatch for the Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Zelenskyy is moving Ukraine's ambassador from the US to strengthen ties with Washington. Meanwhile, the UK's national security adviser Jonathan Powell has played a key behind the scenes role in improving Kyiv's relations with Trump, I'm told. My Guardian report www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Ukraine war briefing: US to resume shipments of weapons for Ukrainian defence

Here's my report from Kyiv after last night's huge Russian attack. As one Ukrainian adviser put it Putin is "publicly humiliating" Donald Trump after their phone call yesterday. The US strategy of appeasing Russia doesn't work - and civilians are paying the price www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Massive Russian drone attack in Kyiv right now. You can hear the moped-like whine of drones flying above the centre of the city - one, two, then many more - followed by booms and machine gun fire from Ukrainian units trying to shoot them down. This is Putin’s war, of course - but also Trump’s ..

Orwell prize for political writing awarded to novelist killed in Ukraine war

Thank you! The dog-eared cover is a good sign

I'm interviewing Charles Beaumont on Monday (June 16), 7pm at the Frontline Club in London. Please join us for a conversation about the war in Ukraine and how Charlies went from a career as an MI6 operative to a successful writer of thrillers

This is a super podcast. Extract below gives a flavour. My comments were made before yesterday's UK strategic defence review. thanks @ruthabrahams.bsky.social

Holy shit Ukraine's SBU security service now says it has attacked the Kerch bridge in occupied Crimea in a months-long operation. It says SBU agents "mined the supports" of the bridge with 1,100kg of TNT under the water line and detonated it this morning.

Putin,as always,will pretend that nothing happened&that "the goals of the special military operation will be achieved."I don’t think there will be any changes among the top commanders of the Russian army either But without a doubt,this operation will be one of the decisive steps in this war

I've done a lot of interviews on Ukraine but this one with Alex Kovzhun and ҐРУНТ/Grunt is my favourite! We talk about Trump's relationship with Putin, the ideological ties between Moscow and Washington and how the Kremlin pushed for Brexit. Plus, dancing to Morrissey www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOfO...

Thank you Christine!

Historic moment in Kyiv: For the first time since the war began, the leaders of the UK (Starmer), France (Macron), Germany (Merz), and Poland (Tusk) have arrived together. Alongside President Zelensky and the First Lady, they visited the Independence Square memorial.

"A marvellous and moving account of the massive destruction caused to the natural world by Russia's war. Darya Tsymbalyuk describes what has been lost...An important and original account." @lukeharding1968.bsky.social on Darya Tsymbalyuk's Ecocide in Ukraine More: politybooks.com/book...

I spent time on the frontline with an artillery unit fighting in the Kharkiv region. The Russians keep trying to advance - on quad bikes, motorcycles and APCs across the Oskil river. Their progress is slow but perceptible. "We keep killing them," one gunner said www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Enjoyed talking to @gavinesler.bsky.social about Trump, Ukraine and whether Russia will "stop" its war. Answer, no: Putin's goals are as maximalist as ever. His tactic is to screw concessions from the White House- whatever he can get - while attacking across the frontline + bombing Ukrainian cities

I spent time on the frontline with an artillery unit fighting in the Kharkiv region. The Russians keep trying to advance - on quad bikes, motorcycles and APCs across the Oskil river. Their progress is slow but perceptible. "We keep killing them," one gunner said www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

🎟️ Very limited tickets! Join us for the launch of the UIL Dinner Club — an evening with @lukeharding1968.bsky.social , great food, and meaningful conversation in support of the Ukrainian Institute London 🗓️ 15 May | 📍 The Delaunay, London 👉 tickettailor.com/events/ukrainianinstitutelondon/1672217

As Zelenskyy and Trump meet in Rome, here's my dispatch from Kharkiv where there has been no let-up in Russian bombing. "I haven't slept in two days," one resident told me. Another called Trump a "Russian asset" and said Ukraine should not sign a US "peace deal" www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Photos from today's meeting between Presidents Zelenskyy and Trump appeared online.

A sleepless and terrible night in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities after Russia carried out a massive drone and ballistic missile attack. Nine people killed, more than 70 injured, buildings hit and on fire, two kids buried under the rubble and now searched for ... www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

I messaged Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline about the Easter "ceasefire". Their answer: Russia is firing as usual and preparing new attacks. "For us, it’s just another day of war, with shelling and even an attempt to assault our positions," one brigade told me www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Happy Easter! The scene this morning outside St. Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv. Worshippers bring baskets to be blessed. The priest douses them with Holy water. There are giggles, and some flinching, as everyone gets wet. More than three years after Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine is unbowed

How long before Putin claims Ukraine has violated Moscow's "Easter truce", announced from 6pm today? It's clearly a cynical move aimed at Donald Trump and his credulous US administration. Russia's actual plan is to carry on fighting and to take more territory www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

US secretary of state Marco Rubio says the Trump administration will soon abandon its attempt to broker a peace deal in Ukraine. Predictable, lazy and absurd: the US has taken no concrete steps to pressure Moscow, while blaming Kyiv for the war www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

My last book review for the Observer newspaper of "Same River Twice: Putin's War on Women". It's a blistering account by Sofi Oksanen of how Moscow uses sexual violence as a weapon. Imperialism and misogyny are linked, she says, with Russia a "patriarchal state" www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

My dispatch from the Ukrainian city of Sumy, hit on Sunday by a Russian missile strike. Today the first victims, Viktor Boiko and his wife Olha, were buried. They were among 35 people killed when their bus was engulfed in shrapnel - "a mistake", according to Trump www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

This is organist Olena Kohut, killed today in Sumy by the Russian missile. Joseph Rheinberger, Visione, op. 156 no. 5 💔

The death toll has risen to 32, including two kids aged seven and 11. Another 99 injured. A grim day and a sign that Russia has no intention of stopping its bloody war, or engaging in a "peace process"

My report on today's devastating Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy. At least 21 dead and 83 injured, including seven kids. Bodies on the streets, burning cars, a trolley bus destroyed, rescuers carrying survivors, a child covered in blood.. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Ukraine's allies accuse Vladimir Putin of "dragging his feet" over peace negotiations. Meanwhile, Steve Witkoff - Trump's envoy, the one who repeats Kremlin propaganda - meets Putin for talks in Saint Petersburg. My latest from Kyiv www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Funny, the countries that didn't get tariffs: Russia North Korea Cuba Venezuela Berlarus Somalia Burkina Faso are, except for Cuba, which abstained, the same countries the US voted together with against the UN resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 🤔

Congratulations to @aspyalone.bsky.social for his new thriller A Spy at War, published today. A gripping and up to the minute story of espionage and high politics, set in wartime Ukraine