In one week, he has unleashed a trade war, a Wall Street crash and the prospect of a global recession.

So it is easy to forget that Donald Trump still hopes to be remembered for something else: ending the three-year war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, another megalomaniac is also dreaming of his place in history by redrawing the map of Europe.

In his quest for unconditional surrender, Vladimir Putin has hurled everything in the Russian armoury at Kyiv, barring nuclear weapons.

Ukraine remains undefeated – but how long can this astonishing resistance continue? Above all, can Ukraine survive after the potential withdrawal of American support, and can Europe maintain their support while dealing with the economic fallout from tariffs?

According to the Kremlin propaganda, which has largely been adopted in parts of the Trump administration, the Russians enjoy a crushing superiority in Ukraine.

In his aim of recreating the Soviet Union, Putin deploys two kinds of weapon: the military hammer and economic sickle.

While Ukrainian troops are battered by the hammer blows of a war machine bristling with lethal technologies, civilian morale is cut off at the knees by economic warfare.

Raging inflation, falling GDP and collapsing living standards will, Putin hopes, force Kyiv to sue for peace.