The timing and messaging of brutal Russian missile attacks on civilians during a trifecta of western leader summits in Europe didn’t seem coincidental. It wasn't the first time that bursts of violence were widely seen as signals of Moscow’s displeasure.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The latest in a litany of horrors in Ukraine came this week as Russian firepower rained down on civilians in a busy shopping mall far from the front lines of a war in its fifth month.