No one thought there would be a first anniversary to mark with Ukraine still largely free, let alone a quartet. And that we are on the brink of a greater disaster for which Britain is wholly unprepared. Richard Pendlebury, pictured on the eastern frontline near Pokrovsk in Ukraine, says the country is resilient and admirable but exhausted. In 2025, while conducting a humanitarian evacuation in the embattled city of Pokrovsk, a Russian drone hit his vehicle. Their hope is that the Russian war economy will gradually collapse.

Source: Daily Mail February 24, 2026 06:43 UTC