This Month
- Analysis
- World politics
Ukraine needs total Western support - and so does Israel
Both are fighting for Western civilisation - one against Russian imperialism, the other against Iranian-backed Islamism. And we should want both to win.
- Niall Ferguson
‘You weren’t afraid’: Mourners defy riot police at Navalny’s funeral
Hundreds of Russians braved riot police and the threat of arrest to attend the funeral of opposition leader Alexei Navalny after his death in a prison camp.
- Katie Marie Davies
‘Don’t they get it?’: Putin warns West of nuclear war risk
Vladimir Putin has vowed to complete his invasion of Ukraine and says Russia could use nuclear weapons if the West sent in troops.
- Updated
- Francesca Ebel and Robyn Dixon
The CIA’s secret mission to help Ukraine defeat Putin
Once seen as thoroughly compromised by Russia, Ukraine’s intelligence agencies have been turned by US spies into deadly weapons against the Kremlin.
- Adam Entous and Michael Schwirtz
February
Leaked Russian military files reveal its nuclear strike rules
Vladimir Putin’s forces have rehearsed using tactical nuclear weapons at an early stage of conflict with a major world power, according to leaked Russian military files that include training scenarios for an invasion by China.
- Max Seddon and Chris Cook
- Opinion
- NATO
Europe needs to prepare for the end of NATO
Russian aggression and American wavering reveal how ill-equipped Europe is to defend itself.
- The Economist
Wider Ukraine war ‘inevitable’ if NATO sends troops, Kremlin warns
Moscow’s warning comes after France’s Emmanuel Macron opened the door to sending Western forces to the war. But Germany’s leaders poured cold water on the idea.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
The sad reality is that Ukraine is outgunned and outmanned
Strategic analysts were adamant either that Ukraine would fall or Russia would buckle. Two years later, neither has happened.
- James Curran
- Opinion
- The AFR View
As Ukraine’s stocks fall, stakes get higher
Two years after Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion began, it’s not just about whether Ukraine can avoid defeat but whether Europe can defend itself
- The AFR View
US imposes major new sanctions on Russia after Navalny’s death
The Biden administration is targeting Russia’s financial sector and military-industrial complex in a broad effort to degrade the Kremlin’s war machine.
- Alan Rappeport
In Ukraine, ruthless Putin smells weakness
Two years into the war and fending off Russia is getting much harder for an army with an average age in the 40s. It needs help.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Europe must stand on its own two feet on defence
Americans owe it to our European partners to be honest: we want allies, not client states, and our generosity in Ukraine is coming to an end.
- JD Vance
Woolies CEO quits | Qantas appoints a new chairman | Best first and business-class flights to Europe
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
‘Riddled with bullets’: Russian defector hunted down in Spain
The helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine last year was found dead in a Spanish coastal town, fuelling speculation Moscow’s intelligence services were responsible.
- Michael Schwirtz and Constant Méheut
Navalny’s wife urges West to spurn Russian election
Yulia Navalnaya told EU foreign ministers: “A president who assassinated his main political opponent cannot be legitimate by definition.”
- Updated
- Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn
- Opinion
- Opinion
Putin’s global fan club is only getting stronger
Admirers of the Russian leader may soon lead the world’s largest democracies of India and the US, after Indonesia also elected a Putin fan this month.
- Gideon Rachman
Navalny’s widow pledges to carry on opposition leader’s work
Yulia Navalnaya has presented herself for the first time as a political force, saying she will challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin’s autocratic rule.
- Updated
- Paul Sonne and Ivan Nechepurenko
The death throes of a Ukrainian city
Avdiivka fell to the Russians after some of the most horrific and destructive fighting of the two-year-old war.
- Marc Santora a
Inside Polar Wolf, the sadistic centrepiece of Putin’s gulag archipelago
The prison where Alexei Navalny, Russia’s top opposition leader, died in mysterious circumstances is part of a network of about 700 penal colonies and has a reputation for cruelty.
- James Kilner
Putin hails ‘important victory’ after troops seize Ukraine city
The Kremlin has notched up a big battlefield win as Ukraine suffers from a lack of ammunition, weapons and soldiers, and as the war hits the two-year mark.
- David L. Stern and Andrew Jeong
