Today, we have two veteran writers on Ukraine, each exploring a piece of the thinking that will help drive what comes next. 

It’s a triumph of geographical placement and accumulated wisdom. 

Moscow-based Fred Weir, who first arrived in the former Soviet Union in 1986, takes the measure of Russian reaction to Ukraine’s surprise cross-border incursions.

Ned Temko, a longtime analyst who also reported for the Monitor from Moscow in the early ’80s and now writes our Patterns column, looks at the West’s complex calculus around responding to new twists in the 2 ½-year-old war.

If you’re committed to understanding the conflict on Europe’s eastern flank, and use context to build understanding, you’ve found your latest briefing.