This is The Guardian.

What you have to understand is that war has changed.

I mean, forget that the Second World War movies you've seen, brave soldiers kind of running across fields and things like that.

I mean, the Russians still do that, but with very little success.

President Putin, no nation benefits from the continued loss of life we are witnessing.

There is still a moment now to stop this war.

We go on about talks and resolution and negotiations.

It's kind of pseudo-diplomacy.

The reality is that Putin doesn't want to stop

this war. The deadlock is over as the European Union finally agrees a 90 billion euro loan

to Ukraine and a massive package of sanctions against Russia as Prince Harry makes a surprise

visit to Kiev. Could this finally be a moment of optimism for Ukraine? From the Guardians today in Focus, this is the latest with me, Lucy Hove.

Well, dialing in from Kiev is our senior international correspondent, Luke, it's great to see you.

Thanks for coming back on the show.

So the last time we spoke was in February, which around the time of the fourth anniversary of Russia's

invasion of Ukraine. And the picture, as per your reporting, was pretty bleak. It was extremely

cold. And there was a sense that Ukraine wasn't making much progress in this kind of grinding

war of attrition. But the picture is now quite different, isn't it? There's been this approval by the

European Union of a massive loan to Ukraine, but also Russia's progress on the battlefield seems to

have stalled. What's it feeling like from where you are right at the heart of things?

I would say actually the mood in Ukraine is definitely more positive,

a bit more optimistic than the last time we spoke, Lucy.

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