Nearly 500 drones pierced Ukrainian airspace this Sunday. It was the largest drone strike of the war and likely the most audacious. Most were intercepted, though several hit targets across the south. Fires lit the skyline in Odesa while falling debris forced evacuations in Kyiv. By daylight, the damage was visible.
Hours later, Russia and Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange. Dozens of soldiers returned to their countries alive, many after months in captivity.
The attack was just the latest in a war that no longer shocks. Ukraine remains in a defensive posture as Russia presses on, with its attritional strategy. Western support holds though the public’s attention is shifting. War fatigue is real. The fighting continues, and so does the suffering. When the first missiles hit Kyiv in 2022, the world moved quickly. Aid packages were assembled in days, and diplomatic statements followed within hours. Sanctions were passed. Most influentially, media coverage was immediate and unrelenting. That sense of urgency helped Ukraine survive its darkest days. It also reshaped the global order.
Now consider Gaza. Entire neighbourhoods have been flattened. Civilian casualties have climbed into the tens of thousands. Hospitals have run out of supplies. The siege has lasted months. There have been UN resolutions, though few have passed. One was even vetoed. Statements have been made, though few without qualification. In many capitals, silence has followed images that should have moved the world.
The discrepancy is hard to ignore. In Ukraine, civilian deaths prompt mourning. In Gaza, they prompt debate. Media framing differs. So does policy. In one case, resistance is seen as heroic. In the other, it is often treated as a provocation. The principle of proportionality, cited often in Ukraine’s defence, is less frequently invoked elsewhere.
No war is identical, and circumstances vary. No qualms about that. Still, the lives of civilians ought to carry equal moral weight. When they do not, the international system begins to lose credibility.
Peace will not come easily to either conflict. In Ukraine, the frontlines are hardened. In Gaza, the blockade holds. Even so, a shared truth remains. Grief is universal and loss does not come with passports. When the world responds unevenly to suffering, it does not just fail the victims. It fractures the very idea that every life is worth the same. *