This was always going to be a busy week for discussions about Ukraine, with senior political figures gathering for the Munich Security Conference which begins on Friday (14 February). Yet the pace picked up markedly on 12 February following a 90-minute phone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. According to Trump, the two leaders have agreed to begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. He also stated that the pair have agreed ‘to visit each other’s nations.’ One might argue that the Trump administration is really carrying on different negotiations from the ones reported.

Belarus’s dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka has been in power for more than 30 years: on Sunday he will claim a seventh term as president; the outcome is barely in doubt. He has held on to power for so long through a combination of Machiavellian talent, a degree of support and a run of luck. It looked as if his instincts had failed him and his luck run out in 2020 as huge street protests nearly swept him from power. Since then his regime has silenced dissent inside the country and very little stands in his way this weekend.

At the weekend, the European Union’s Josep Borrell visited Kyiv and sought to assure Ukrainians of the bloc’s ‘unwavering’ support. The statement, of course, came on the heels of Donald Trump’s election victory which has provoked concerns that the US will cut military and financial aid to Ukraine. But a political mess in Germany and a stymied government in France ensure that ‘Europe’ has been missing in action on Ukraine over the past week.

With its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2024, Russia brought war back to Europe. Many hoped the madness would end in a few hours, days or, at most, weeks. Yet after two and half years peace is not in sight. Alina Nychyk asks when peace might come and what it could look like.  

A researcher was distraught to hear that a professor that she knows in Belarus had been sacked for their political views. In this guest blog, she draws on her interview with the professor to throw light on the situation for scholars still working in Belarus, and the implications it has for the country’s future.