\u201cThere will be no escalation in the coming week either, or in the week after that, or in the coming month,\u201d declared Vladimir Chizhov, Russia\u2019s envoy to the European Union, on February 16th. \u201cWars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday.\u201d And indeed it was early on Thursday, February 24th, as dawn broke over Ukraine, that Vladimir Putin, Russia\u2019s president, took to television to declare war on Ukraine in the form of a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d to \u201cdenazify\u201d the country.<\/p>\n
Within minutes explosions were heard near Kyiv\u2019s main airport, as well as in many other cities. Video footage taken in Ukraine showed cruise missiles slicing through the air and slamming into buildings. Mr Putin had launched what is sure to be Europe\u2019s most intense war in a generation\u2014possibly its largest since the second world war. It will shake his regime to its foundations, debilitate Russia\u2019s economy and fracture Russian society. It will shatter existing assumptions about European security. It could well send shock waves through the global economy.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some Ukrainian intelligence officials believed the war would be confined to separatist enclaves in the east of the country. But America and Britain have for months though that Vladimir Putin intended something much larger https:\/\/t.co\/b2BYX5lp4S<\/a><\/p>\n — The Economist (@TheEconomist) February 25, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n