• All this week we have been running a series of pieces to mark a year of war in Ukraine. We have also launched a new podcast—“Next Year in Moscow”—about the people who have fled Vladimir Putin’s tyranny. In print we are bringing together our reporting and analysis into a special report, along with a cover editorial.
• After 12 months of fighting, the world has much to mourn: the dead, on both sides; the living scattered in their millions across Europe by the threat from Russian missiles. But Vladimir Putin is unrepentant. This week he made clear that he is mobilising Russia for a war—hot or cold—that could last a generation.
• Ukraine’s allies can congratulate themselves that they have done their part to counter Russia, though Ukraine deserves most of the credit. But Mr.Putin believes that the West will tire. Given the possibility of a new American president in 2025 and stronger backing from China, he may be proved right.
• Western leaders need to signal their resolve to the Kremlin and prepare their own people for the struggle ahead by committing themselves to a credible blueprint for a long conflict and, potentially, an even longer armed stand-off when the shooting stops.
• Some ask whether Ukraine is worth all the effort. Aren’t climate change and the cost-of-living crisis more urgent? It is right to regret the war, but foolish to wish away Mr.Putin’s aggression. Russia, Ukraine and the West are locked in a contest between rival systems. A Russian victory would deepen a widespread belief that Western power, and the universal values it sustains, are in steep decline.

By
Zanny Minton Beddoes
Editor in chief