Life and death: Inside the 26 August Guardian Weekly

Six months of hell in Ukraine. Plus: recession stalks Europe.

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.