Russia this week claimed it had started pulling back its military forces from the Ukrainian border, but when shelling hit a nursery school near the frontline in the southeastern Luhansk region on Thursday, it was all hands on deck. A second day of shelling followed, with both sides accusing the other of provocation, and with the leaders of the separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk ordering the evacuation of civilians.

The week began with Emmanuel Macron heading to Moscow for what he hoped will be the start of a long road to de-escalation over Ukraine. He had a closed-door conversation with Vladimir Putin, each sitting at one end of a very long table. Despite all the diplomacy, troop movements continue. On Thursday began what Moscow insists are long-planned joint military manoeuvres with Belarus. The Kremlin insists the forces will be withdrawing once they're finished.

The Winter Games are now underway in Beijing – in an anti-Covid bubble, for good reason. The opening ceremony has been impressive. Due to a diplomatic boycott, only Vladimir Putin is the main VIP visitor. This comes at a time when Russia's president is in the eye of another storm: the Ukraine conflict.

The Kremlin is unimpressed by the West's written responses to their demands over Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russian flags flew in Burkina Faso this week after a coup ousted yet another civilian government over failure to get a handle on jihadist insurgency. The UK PM's 2021 birthday involved up to 30 guests and a cake, which some might call that a party... but will the police? Finally, in the latest instalment of the Big Tech misinformation saga, Neil Young is off Spotify in a stand against podcaster Joe Rogan, accused of spreading falsehoods about Covid-19.

It feels almost like last-chance talks to stop an eventual war as the US and Russian foreign ministers met in Geneva. Over two months, Moscow has amassed troops at the Ukraine border and amid the flurry of diplomacy come a massive cyberattack against Ukraine's government and a thinning out of Russian staff at their embassy in Kiev. We put the questions of possible future scenarios to our quests.

As the fate of Novak Djokovic hangs in the balance, the ball is now in the court of an Australian appeals judge. This comes after the country's immigration minister revoked the 34-year-old Serb's visa on public interest grounds, three days before the start of the Australian Open. The defending champion is still practicing, but the wagons are circling around the seemingly unvaxed Djokovic after apparent falsehoods on his visa entry form.

We begin in Kazakhstan, where the country's president has given the green light to security forces to shoot to kill those taking part in the unrest that's been sweeping the Central Asian nation this week. Dozens of people have been killed in the violence which erupted after a sharp increase in fuel prices, reflecting wider discontent with authoritarian rule. In response to a call from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Russian-led troops have already begun arriving in Kazakhstan.

He won as an outsider, but can French President Emmanuel Macron win a second term? François Picard’s panel weighs the odds ahead of April elections. Also, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro cries foul ahead of a presidential poll scheduled for October, China's Communist Party prepares to remove de facto term limits for Xi Jinping, why hosting the FIFA World Cup could backfire for Qatar, and the panel’s pick of books and movies to prepare for the year ahead.

2021 began with the promise of vaccines to the rescue. But as one variant begets another, rich nations talk of boosters and jabs for kids while much of the developing world still waits for first doses.

After Boris Johnson's unconvincing denial of a staff Christmas party at Downing Street at the height of lockdown last year, the people’s verdict came in on Thursday’s by-election in the West Midlands. North Shropshire’s new member of parliament was back at it the next day in the company of the Lib Dems' former party leader. What’s bigger than scandal at number 10 for the right-wing press? The French cancelling Christmas. “Spiteful Macron bans UK tourists”, writes The Daily Mail.