Location is everything. Kharkiv is just 40km (25 miles) from Russia, once a vital trading partner of Ukraine but now the country’s bitterest enemy. Lviv sits 70km from prosperous Poland, gateway to the markets of the European Union. Many of the province’s inhabitants work on the other side of the border.

The percentage of Ukrainians who believe that in ten years their country will be prosperous and a member of the European Union has risen from 43% to 56%. Details: KIIS noted that from October 2022 to May 2025,

Russia has been threatening Pokrovsk for more than a year. Instead of the full frontal assaults it used in earlier battles like the bloody campaign for the similarly sized city of Bakhmut, Russia's military is using a pincer movement to gradually encircle Pokrovsk and threaten Ukrainian supply lines.

Drones operated by Russian forces have repeatedly attacked Ukrainian civilians, causing deaths, injuries and large-scale destruction, independent UN human rights investigators said on Monday.