Putin is losing the ground war, but Europe must dig in for the economic battle

In private, French and German officials now speak of the US as the only winner, with its exports booming

- Ben Judah

THERE is more than one front in Europe’s almost 10 - month-long war. The first is in the mud, where the worst trenches and dugouts in Eastern Ukraine are starting to bear more than a passing resemblance to scenes from the First World War. The second can be seen from space: Ukraine plunged into darkness from blackouts and assaults on its critical infrastructure as the illuminated cities of Europe glow into the night all around it. The third frontline can be felt in every bank account in Britain: the mounting costs of the economic war between Russia and the West.

President Zelensky and his team, looking at the first two frontlines, have every reason to toast the incoming new year. Ukrainian forces, under the supreme command of General Valerii Zaluzhnyi — whose counter-offensives have already won himself a place in military history — have driven the Russian occupation out of Kharkiv oblast and the city of Kherson. Six months ago, officials in the US National Security Council were sceptical that such a thing was even possible. Meanwhile, in urban Ukraine — on the second frontline that is public opinion — Russia’s attempt to break the nation’s will to fight through the constant bombardments of what powers and heat them has failed miserably. Through the rolling blackouts there is nothing less than a Blitz spirit.