Killing of Moskalik shows Ukraine is still in the fight

The killing was coincidental. But the symbolism of reaching into the heart of Russia to murder a general who was a Kremlin representative at the last significant peace talks with Ukraine is as powerful as the blast that took him.

- SAM KILEY WORLD AFFAIRS EDITOR

It’s beyond the capacity of even the swashbuckling Ukrainian intelligence services to time the targeting of an assassination with the visit of US “peace” envoy Steve Witkoff.

But given that Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik was the security adviser to the Russian delegation during the Minsk peace process, which froze Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2015 until Vladimir Putin launched his 2022 blitzkrieg, the irony should not be lost on the American delegation.

Minsk was a disaster for Ukraine. The second round of agreements, signed off in the presence of Angela Merkel, for Germany, and Emmanuel Macron for France, established a ceasefire that Russia didn’t observe. It used a period of calm to re-arm and plan a full-scale invasion.