Free Republic

What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week? Catch up with the must-read news and analysis Every week we wrap up essential coverage of the war in Ukraine, from news and features to analysis, and more. [Excerpt] ‘Music is to me the light’ For this piece Charlotte Higgins sets the scene at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, where the stakes are very high for everyone on stage. Violinist Joshua Bell and conductor Dalia Stasevska are on an intensely focused mission to get the opening bars of a concerto just right – and not just any concerto, but one by...

The Defence Secretary is set to pledge to send 20,000 British military personnel to a major Nato exercise in eastern Europe as he warns the post-Cold War “peace dividend” is at an end.Grant Shapps will warn that “battle lines are being redrawn” as he announces the deployment of Army, Navy and RAF members to the drill on Russia’s borders in a speech in London.It will be the largest deployment of British land forces to Nato since the height of the Cold War in 1984, a year before Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet leader.