Good morning. As Ukraine marks the third anniversary of its war with Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky says he’d give up his presidency to achieve peace – more on that below, along with ER wait times in Ontario and a pair of Liberal leadership debates. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Germany’s conservative opposition wins the election, while the far-right AfD is second with its strongest postwar result
- Fewer Canadians got the flu shot this season compared to last year, contributing to the latest surge in cases
- Trump is likely to dominate the Liberal leadership debates as Carney and Freeland vie for PM
Volodymyr Altukhov, left, speaks to a neighbour who had pulled him out of the rubble after a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle flew into his house while he was sleeping the night before. Sept. 9, 2024, Pokrovsk, Donetsk region.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
Ukraine
The war in six frames
Ukraine has lost a great deal in the three years since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of the country. Tens of thousands of people have been killed. Entire cities have been destroyed. But last week, when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio convened peace talks in Saudi Arabia, only Russian officials were asked to join the discussion. Ukraine just lost its seat at the table, too.
“Suddenly, Ukraine, a country that for the past three years has been the largest recipient of U.S. military and economic assistance, is at odds with its biggest patron,” The Globe’s senior international correspondent, Mark MacKinnon, writes in his latest analysis.
Yesterday, days after U.S. President Donald Trump called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator without elections” on (where else) Truth Social, the Ukrainian President said he’d be willing to resign if it meant peace and NATO membership for his country. But U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth already shot down that idea at a summit in Brussels this month: A peace deal that secured NATO protection against future Russian attacks was simply “unrealistic,” he said.
On Friday, Trump again boasted about his “very good talks with Putin” and slammed Ukraine for continuing to “play it tough” even though “they don’t have any cards.” It’s a curious accusation. As MacKinnon writes, “supporters of Ukraine wonder why Trump – who claims to be a master negotiator – has already given Putin a major concession by ending three years of U.S.-led efforts to isolate Moscow, while getting nothing in return so far.”
It’s unclear what Trump expects to happen in the future. He wants half of Ukraine’s mineral wealth, which Zelenksy has so far refused to sign over, and demands swift elections, which would require Kyiv to suspend martial law before the war ends. In the meantime, Trump seems content to rewrite the past, insisting that Zelensky started the conflict and conned the U.S. into coming to his defence.
Ukrainian photojournalist Olga Ivashchenko has spent three years covering the reality on the ground, documenting the destruction of her country, the bravery of soldiers on the front lines, and the moments of humanity amid the horror. To mark the war’s third anniversary, she picked some of her most powerful images for The Globe. Here are a few of the ones she chose.
July 8, 2024, Kyiv.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
Last summer, a Russian missile slammed into Okhmatdyt, Ukraine’s largest pediatric clinic. The strike levelled a wing of the hospital, interrupting open-heart surgeries and forcing young cancer patients to take their treatments outdoors. Residents of Kyiv rushed to Okhmatdyt once they heard what had happened, bringing shovels to help rescuers get people out of the smashed concrete and shattered glass. “The amount of Ukrainians who came from every direction was so impressive,” Ivashchenko writes. “They worked together as a well-oiled machine, passing water and other items in, and clearing the debris and rubble out, hand to hand along a long line of people.”
July 9, 2024, Kyiv.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
The missile strike demolished the hospital’s toxicology ward, where children with kidney disease had to be taken off dialysis and evacuated through the windows of the building. Fourteen-year-old Volodymyr Shpetna, above, was transferred to another hospital in Kyiv along with dozens of kids. “Thank God he’s alive,” his mother, Anelina, told The Globe from his bedside the day after the attack.
Nov. 12, 2024, Ukraine's border with Russia.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
The drone war is nearly as important as the tank and infantry battles taking place along a 1,000-kilometre front line that stretches from the Kursk region of Russia through much of eastern and southern Ukraine. For the Ukrainian special forces sending aerial vehicles on kamikaze missions across the border, the fight is personal: Ivashchenko noticed in November that “For Ilya” was scrawled on a drone’s tail. It was a reference to one of the soldiers’ 14-year-old son, who had been killed by a Russian missile strike months before.
Sept. 8, 2024, Pokrovsk, Donetsk region.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
It has been hard for Ukraine to hold the offensive against the main Russian line in the Donbas region. When Ivashchenko travelled to Pokrovsk last fall, days after the last evacuation train left the city, she met 80-year-old Nina Shustova, who’d stayed behind in a nine-storey apartment without water or electricity. Her food had spoiled in the refrigerator; she couldn’t charge her phone to reach her family. Still, Shustova was sweeping up broken glass in the stairwell of her building because she wanted it to be tidy, though she seemed to be the last person there.
Oct. 5, 2023, Sloviansk, Donetsk region.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
“Thousands of women travel hundreds of kilometres to spend a few hours with their loved ones, some of whom have spent the past three years at the front – without the possibility of leaving the army until the end of the war,” Ivashchenko writes. The train stations dotted along the front line are the backdrop for romantic reunions and sombre farewells. “Here you see the strongest hugs, the longest kisses and the most sincere tears.”
More from The Globe
Mark MacKinnon speaks with The Decibel about how Donald Trump continues to warm to Russia and cool his support for Ukraine.
Paul Waldie meets the exiled Ukrainian families working to build new lives in Newfoundland and Scotland.
Eric Reguly wonders why Trump isn’t using economic leverage to get a better deal for Ukraine and the West.
The Chart
The long wait in an Ontario ER
When Ontario voters head to the polls on Thursday, health care will be their top concern. Doug Ford became Premier in 2018 on a promise to end hallway medicine – but one Ottawa emergency physician tells The Globe that “given our volumes right now, we’re looking to end broom closet medicine.” Click here for a check up on Ontario’s wait times, doctor shortages and emergency rooms.
The Week
What we’re following
Today: The Liberal leadership contenders meet in Montreal for a French debate without Ruby Dhalla, who was removed from the race last week over campaign irregularities.
Tomorrow: Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould and Frank Baylis will stick around in Montreal for the English debate.
Tomorrow: Final arguments will be held in the impeachment trial of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, setting up a likely decision for sometime in March.
Tomorrow: The UN opens the 58th session of its Human Rights Council. The U.S. won’t be attending, after Donald Trump withdrew from the council earlier this month.
Thursday: G20 finance ministers convene for a meeting in Cape Town, although U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is skipping that one, as well.
Thursday: Ontarians cast their votes in a snap election that Premier Doug Ford called a year and a half ahead of schedule.