Politics

Following Russia’s withdrawal from northern Ukraine, the inhabitants of Kyiv, the capital, as well as other northern cities such as Sumy and Chernihiv, enjoyed a week with no shelling or rocket attacks for the first time since the war started on February 24th. Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, farther to the east, was largely quiet, too. But there are fears that Russia is preparing a massive new assault in the Donbas region in the south-east. Vladimir Putin said peace talks were at a dead end and that Russia would prevail. Joe Biden, America’s president, described Russia’s actions in Ukraine as genocide.