It is anyone’s guess as to where this war will take Putin and Russia, let alone Zelensky and Ukraine. One thing is certain, many more Ukraine and Russian soldiers, and sadly many more Ukraine citizens will die and the Ukraine cities, countryside and economy will be scared for generations. As well as revealing the harshest sights of war, he also wants to show contrasting moments of celebration and light relief that keep him going, the kinds of experiences that he says make life in Ukraine worth fighting for. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, chief of the defence staff, said last weekend: “Some of the comments that he’s not well… I think they’re wishful thinking.” An explosive account of Putin's presidency and his long-term ambitions, including first-hand reporting from the invasion of Ukraine. Alyona went to say goodbye to her lover in the morgue. “It was a big place, a huge hall. There were bodies on slabs due to be buried the next day. I looked around. There were about 20 people but I couldn’t find Yuri. I went up to the supervisor and explained that I might be in the wrong place as I couldn’t find him. Through the corner of my eye I saw a dear old lady lying on a slab. The strangest thing, she reminded me of my grandma who passed away a long time ago. The curious resemblance of the two old ladies hit me. In my worst nightmares, I could never, ever have imagined that the dear old lady was in fact Yuri.”

Labour has been demanding answers about Johnson’s meetings. Evgeny Lebedev insists he is “ not some agent of Russia” but the opposition has called for him to publish texts between him and Johnson. Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary, raised the issue again in the Commons this month. The pure evil of Putin’s reign is laid out here in knowledgeable detail. Somehow, throughout history, it’s all happened before. Only the methods available have changed. There’s also the matter of the hangers on, these days referred to as oligarchs, who are totally dependent on the corruption and brutality of the current regime. They’re not much better.John Sweeney is an award-winning journalist and author, who brings a novel to the layman that truly confirms the Russian powers mindset - "Oderint dum metuant. Let them hate so long as they fear."

I share many of the author’s views on the current Kremlin regime, especially that the invasion of Ukraine was not only morally indefensible but was also a serious military mistake. There is one section of the book, however, that I found to be infuriatingly selective with the truth. I am a student of the causes of WW1. One thing I am certain of is that if the Kaiser, the Emperor, the Tsar and the Caliphate knew where they would be five years hence from 2014, they would have done their utmost to have stopped that war from starting. I wonder if Putin will be in a similar situation. Once you start a war you never know where it will take you. It is natural that decisions about editorial balance can cause tensions between passionate journalists working on high-profile stories. Sarah Rainsford, the BBC correspondent who was banned from Russia last year, recently told i of her own frustrations while covering Moscow. In response, a spokesperson for the broadcaster tells i: “The BBC does not agree with John Sweeney’s characterisation of events and strongly rejects his insinuations about our independence and our journalism.” John Sweeney is the author of new book ‘Killer in the Kremlin: The Explosive Account of Putin’s Reign of Terror’ (Photo: Liam Kennedy)

Many people also visit those properties for fun. Evgeny Lebedev – the Russian-born proprietor of The Independent and the London Evening Standard, who also owned iuntil 2016 – is known for the extravagant parties he holds at Palazzo Terranova. He accuses the bureau of siding with the Russian government to preserve its access to insiders. “The BBC Moscow office’s relationship with the Kremlin… there was something wrong and rotten about it,” he says. an Emmy Award and a Royal Television Society prize for programs about the Massacre at Krusha e Madhe, Kosovo. In a disturbing expose of Putin's sinister ambition, Sweeney draws on thirty years of his own reporting - from the Moscow apartment bombings to the atrocities committed by the Russian Army in Chechnya, to the annexation of Crimea and a confrontation with Putin over the shooting down of flight MH17 - to understand the true extent of Putin's long war.