This week we have published a special report on the future of war. The war in Ukraine—a high-intensity conflict that combines cutting-edge technology with industrial-scale killing—will shape the understanding of combat for decades to come. Shashank Joshi, our defence editor, has written seven chapters on how technology is changing the battlefield, from advances in electronic warfare to decentralised military logistics and deepening civilian involvement. Shashank’s reporting stretches from command posts in Kyiv and NATO headquarters in Brussels to military exercises in the English countryside. As our cover leader explains, a new era of high-tech war has begun.

Our cover in Asia is about families, fertility and freedom. In China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, Asians’ supposed commitment to conservative family life is collapsing. Millions of young people are opting for looser, often lonelier and less male-dominated arrangements. I encourage you to read our East Asian family portrait, which shows how the new generation of households looks very different from the one that came before it. In a region that is home to over a fifth of humanity, the socioeconomic and demographic consequences will be vast and potentially destabilising, and will shape millions of lives.