The sound of rifles and mortars echoed around Rostov-on-Don hours after mercenaries of the Wagner private military company took over the headquarters of the Russian Army’s Southern command. He challenges, for example, the notion of Kyiv’s armed forces as outnumbered amateurs, pointing out that during the last eight years of the simmering Donbas conflict, some 900,000 Ukrainians have served, “making a vast reserve force with recent combat experience”.

However, there are few details about other major battles such as the siege of Mariupol and Azovstal.This week: In the magazine we look at the Wagner Group’s failed coup and its implications for Putin’s reign. Tačiau iš esmės labai gerai sukaltas kontekstas ir giliau pažvelgiama į pirmas karo dienas, ne tik dėstant faktus, bet ir stengiantis įžvelgti minties vingius ir strateginius sprendimus. The portrait of Patrushev is also helpful for introducing readers to an essential figure in Russia’s recent past, the current war, and possibly the future too. Matthews’ answer may come as a surprise to a casual reader, because he emphasises the role of key figures in Putin’s inner circle, rather than the Russian President himself. An astonishing investigation into the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war – from the corridors of the Kremlin to the trenches of Mariupol.

The use of second-hand sources, though, is the only way to provide a proper overview: in a war this big, no reporter can be everywhere.Matthews titles the profile of Surkov “The Grey Cardinal”, before frowning on using that epithet for Surkov when he later insists that “the title properly belonged to Nikolai Patrushev”.

To access your ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. Using the accounts of current and former insiders from the Kremlin and its propaganda machine, the testimony of captured Russian soldiers and on-the-ground reporting from Russia and Ukraine, Overreach tells the story not only of the war’s causes but how the first six months unfolded. After 27 years as a Moscow correspondent, Spectator journalist Owen Matthews found his contacts book shrinking within days of Russia’s Ukraine invasion. The invasion, says Matthews, was “the final triumph of an elderly Russia over a young one, of paranoid Soviet-minded conspiracy theorists over. The reader’s comprehension is also not helped by the greatest flaw of the book – the absence of supporting material.Either way, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s re-election in the most fiercely contested election of his career last Sunday was a victory for fear over hope, for security over uncertainty, and of the past over the future. A Telegraph Book of the Year* An astonishing investigation into the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war – from the corridors of the Kremlin to the trenches of Mariupol. But as a historical rough draft of this century’s first major conflict, it’s compelling – if uncomfortable – reading.