Good morning.
Today marks the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the beginning of the war for the survival of the country as an independent sovereign entity. Russia had invaded the eastern portion of the country in 2014, but when the tanks rolled across the border and made towards Kyiv four years ago today, it presented a new and existential challenge for the country.
A brutal and bloody war followed. Despite expectations that Russian victory was inevitable within weeks, heroic defence by the Ukrainians first stopped the Russian advance then pushed it back eastwards. Since then the war has bogged down into stalemate in eastern Ukraine, with Russia in control of about 20 per cent of the country.
Much has been made – especially by the US, apparently keen for Ukraine to trade land for peace quickly – of Russia’s apparently inexorable advance since 2024, but the rate at which it is taking territory is extremely slow, and almost unbelievably costly. Reliable figures are hard to come by but western intelligence analysis suggests Russia may have suffered as many as 1.5 million casualties – that is, soldiers killed, wounded or missing. Ukraine’s losses are thought to be perhaps a third of that. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said about 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed. Russia’s failure to make significant progress on the battlefield is one of the reasons why Vladimir Putin has targeted Ukrainian civilian targets.
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Zelenskiy will mark the fourth anniversary with an address by video-link to the European Parliament today, and there will be a vote on a resolution condemning Russia afterwards. EU foreign ministers are also meeting in Brussels. A more pressing matter for the Ukrainians will be whether the EU’s €90 billion loan, which will enable the country to continue to defend itself, will go ahead. Without external support, Ukraine cannot keep fighting and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban is seeking to block the loan. Sinn Féin surprised some people by voting against it in the Dáil last week.
Jack Power’s lead story is here.
From Kyiv: a family grows up under fire.
Lara Marlowe on how the west failed Ukraine.
And here’s our editorial: The EU must stand with Ukraine.
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The fallout from the Epstein files continues to roil Britain beyond just its politics. On Monday, it was the inevitable turn of Peter Mandelson, formerly the ultimate string puller behind the curtain of British politics, then a front of house player himself with Cabinet appointments, the UK’s European Commissioner and, latterly, ambassador to Washington, to sit into the back of a police car and be taken away for questioning. It’s hardly a case of O-what-a-fall-was-there-my-countrymen; Mandelson has twice previously resigned in disgrace. But still.
Mark Paul’s report here.
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Late on Monday evening – too late for print editions – came the news that the Government would seek to get past the controversy of special needs assistants by hiring more of them and decreeing that no school would lose any of its SNA allocations. The inevitable conclusion of a political controversy with the unplanned spending of more money.
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The Cabinet meets today with a busy agenda. Harry McGee has the lowdown here. Among the memos will be one by Minister for Arts, Culture and Sports Patrick O’Donovan about taking the Limerick rugby museum from JP McManus and transforming it into a National Women’s Museum. Details of that here.
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Still in the news with the sports minister, and O’Donovan has reacted angrily to the scenes he witnessed at the Drogheda United vs Dundalk soccer game over the weekend, when Drogheda fans threw lighted flares on to the new astroturf pitch in Oriel Park – only just opened by the Minister – damaging the surface. No more money for League of Ireland astros, he declared, until they get their act together to prevent this “gougerism and thuggery”. He is meeting them tomorrow.
O’Donovan also wants Drogheda to identify the fans responsible. The Irish Times repeatedly asked the chair of the club, the Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne who was at the match with the Drogheda fans, about this, but no response was forthcoming. The Sinn Féin press office said she would not be commenting. This might have some way to run yet. Story here.
Best reads
Fintan on what King Charles can learn from the Irish Catholic Church.
Smart piece from Hugh Linehan on AI.
Rugby lads still relishing the weekend rout of England.
Playbook
As mentioned above, the Cabinet meets at Government Buildings this morning for its weekly session. After that it’s the start of the Dáil’s week at 2pm for the first Leaders’ Questions session of the week. Later, after the order of business and Taoiseach’s oral (ie, pre-submitted in writing) questions, Sinn Féin has a motion on special needs assistants.
Over in the Seanad, meanwhile, they have statements on bluetongue.
While a busy day at the committees will see sessions on, inter alia, crayfishing, artificial intelligence and peacemaking in the Middle East, which meeting will hear the thoughts of Bertie Ahern and Gerry Adams.
The full schedule of the day is here
Later in the day, the Taoiseach will formally launch the Fianna Fáil centenary programme in Dublin – it’s going to be a big few months for the soldiers of destiny.
