Guardian Weekly 26 August 2022

The troop buildups, the belligerent speeches, the excruciatingly staged Kremlin policy meetings … for months, the signs had been there in plain sight. Nonetheless, the order in the early hours of 24 February from Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine came as a lightning bolt, one that would change Europe for years to come. Six months on, the swift victory Putin seems to have expected from his “special military operation” is a distant memory, the war mired in seemingly intractable deadlock. Eastern Europe correspondent Shaun Walker reflects on six months of hell for Ukrainians and where the conflict goes from here, while international affairs commentator Philip Short asks whether the world is any closer to understanding Putin’s motives for the invasion in the first place. Then, in Spotlight, Richard Partington and Larry Elliott…

1 RUSSIA/UKRAINE Kyiv braces for attacks after Moscow car bomb killing Ukraine was braced for an intensification of Russian missile attacks to coincide with its independence day this week, in the aftermath of the car bomb killing of the daughter of an ultranationalist Russian ideologue. Ukraine’s military warned that Russia had put five cruise missile-bearing warships and submarines out in the Black Sea and that Moscow was positioning air defence systems in Belarus. Large gatherings were banned in Kyiv for several days this week. Tensions between the two warring countries were at risk of heightening further after the killing of Darya Dugina, daughter of the Russian political commentator Alexander Dugin, on the outskirts of Moscow last Saturday. On Monday, Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Ukraine’s intelligence services of carrying out the murder. Kyiv denied…

Hanae Mori The first Japanese fashion designer to make it in the world of French haute couture. She died on 11 August, aged 96. Wolfgang Petersen German film-maker known for action and suspense thrillers, including Das Boot and Outbreak. He died on 12 August, aged 81. Darius Campbell Danesh Singer and actor, who appeared in TV shows Popstars and Pop Idol before forging a stage career. He died on 11 August, aged 41. Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame One of Somalia’s greatest poets, known as “Hadraawi”. He died on 18 August, aged 79. Shirley Barrett Australian film-maker, whose film Love Serenade won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes in 1996. She died on 3 August, aged 61.…

POLLUTION New method to break down ‘forever chemicals’ A new method for decomposing some PFAS compounds may represent a major breakthrough in addressing environmental contamination across the world, according to research published in the journal Science. PFAS, or per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down, and man-made processes that try to destroy them are expensive, energy intensive and have yielded questionable results. PFAS are thought to be contaminating drinking water supplies for more than 200 million Americans and are estimated to be in 98% of Americans’ blood. Knowledge of how PFAS degrade is “the single most important thing coming out of this study ”, said Will Dichtel, a Northwestern University researcher and study co-author. EVOLUTION ‘Angry minion’ not related to humans, scientists conclude Scientists have ruled out the…

CONSERVATIVES Senior figures warn of dire election losses under Truss Senior Tories have warned that their party will suffer dire electoral consequences under a Liz Truss premiership that fails to address the cost of living crisis, as Labour enjoys a poll bounce suggesting Keir Starmer could be on course for No 10. Amid signs of mounting panic among high-ranking Conservatives about Truss’s economic policies, several former cabinet ministers said the party would suffer devastating losses unless Truss changed tack if she enter ed No 10. After Michael Gove described Truss’s plan to focus on cutting taxes as a “holiday from reality” and announced he was supporting Rishi Sunak, the latest Opinium poll for the Observer gave Labour and its leader a double boost, days after he backed a complete freeze on energy bills this…

IT WAS EARLY IN THE EVENING OF 21 FEBRUARY that it became impossible to ignore that Vladimir Putin was planning something truly terrible for Ukraine. Up to that moment, six months ago, many voices were urging calm in the face of increasingly insistent American and British warnings of a full-scale invasion. The French and German governments, Russian officials and even Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy suggested Putin’s troop buildup was a bluff Then Putin appeared on television, chairing a meeting of his security council in the Kremlin. Ordering his courtiers, one by one, to the microphone, Putin played at seeking their counsel, humiliating the few who hesitated to give the answers he wanted. Ostensibly, the issue under discussion was whether Russia should recognise the “independence” of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics”. But…