We have two covers this week. Our international editions look at what Ukraine needs to stave off defeat; in Britain we report on Labour’s rocky start in government. Both covers are in black and white. One says that Volodymyr Zelensky is full of anguish, the other that Sir Keir Starmer is…er, well, lacking colour.

When Ukraine’s president travelled to America this week, he took a “plan for victory”, containing a fresh call for arms and money. In fact, his country needs something far more ambitious: an urgent change of course.

The frozen shell conveys the grim truth that since Ukraine recaptured the city of Kherson in late 2022, it has made almost no progress repelling Russia’s invasion. A much-heralded offensive in the summer of 2023 won only tiny slivers of Russian-held territory.

However, stalemate is the wrong way to look at the battlefield. Yard by yard, Ukraine is losing this war. A measure of its declining fortunes is Russia’s advance in the east, particularly around the city of Pokrovsk. Russia is hurting, but so is Ukraine. Its lines could crumble before Russia’s war effort is exhausted.

We thought about an hourglass as a symbol of Ukraine’s declining fortunes, but at a time when Ukraine has faded from the top of the news we wanted something with more urgency.

Here we use a flag surrounded by iron hedgehogs to illustrate that the only way to wind down the fighting and ensure the security on which Ukraine’s prosperity and democracy will ultimately rest is for its soldiers to deny Russia any prospect of advancing further on the battlefield. 

One problem for Ukraine is that Mr Zelensky continues to defy reality by insisting that Ukraine’s army can take back all the land Russia has stolen since 2014. In fact there is a growing gap between the total victory many Ukrainians say they want, and their willingness or ability to fight for it.

Mr Putin attacked Ukraine not for its territory, but to stop it becoming a prosperous, Western-leaning democracy. Ukraine’s partners need to get Mr Zelensky to persuade his people that this remains the most important prize in this war.

This devastation conveys the urgency of the task. Western leaders can help make Mr Zelensky’s war aim credible by ensuring that Ukraine has the military capacity and security guarantees it needs. Ukraine needs weapons. Western leaders also need to signal that they are willing to go beyond today’s open-ended words about an “irrevocable path” to NATO membership by inviting Ukraine to join now, even if it is divided and, possibly, without a formal armistice.

As the week wore on, however, we felt that a battlefield would not work. For one thing, some readers might think it signified a different war: Israel and Hizbullah were attacking each other in Lebanon. For another, the real drama lay in Mr Zelensky and his desperate mission to seek help.

This told that very human story. Compare Mr Zelensky today with his face on our cover from March 31st 2022,  in the weeks after the invasion. You can see the burden of 30 gruelling months of warfare in his silver-flecked beard and the hard set of his mouth. As his gaze has become more fixed, it has lost some of its compassion. Forging a new victory plan asks a lot of Mr Zelensky and Western leaders. But if they demur, they will usher in Ukraine’s defeat. And that would be much worse.

Sir Keir Starmer moved into Downing Street less than three months ago. Yet his personal approval ratings already stand below those of Rishi Sunak, the man he replaced as prime minister. Insiders brief about dysfunction at the heart of government. The headlines are all about missteps, many over gifts of glasses, clothing and other freebies for Sir Keir and his wife.

Plenty in the party argue that these difficulties are froth. But, as this week’s party conference showed, Labour’s problems go deeper than that. 

When we look at Labour’s record in office, it gives us that sinking feeling. As Sir Keir’s glasses fill with water, you can understand why he might lack the vision thing. Or how about the prime minister tumbling towards the door of Number 10?

To avoid scaring the electorate, Labour ran a risk-free campaign. It lacks a clear project. And for all its incessant talk of hard decisions, it now appears unprepared for many of the choices that governing inevitably requires. Stories about infighting between aides would matter less if Labour had not based its appeal on managerial effectiveness. If the party had not made so much of its devotion to public service, freebies would not smack of hypocrisy. Without a compelling analysis of what ails Britain and a clear sense of direction, the government is more liable to be distracted by events, spinning its wheels uselessly. 

This image was clearer. It is drawn from Labour’s campaign poster, which nicely ties today’s woes to their electoral origins. Sir Keir tried to put things right this week with a conference speech. It was billed as a change of the mood—but instead the country got wooden delivery accompanied by sawing rhetoric. The prime minister needs to grasp that he must overcome more than just a succession of local difficulties.