Good morning.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said 50 to 100 Ukrainians are dying every day on the war’s eastern front in what appeared to be a reference to military casualties. The Ukrainian president’s comments were made as he prepares to address the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The heaviest fighting is focused around the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk, one of the two regions that make up the Donbas.
Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, said in a local television interview that Russia was using “scorched-earth” tactics in the region and that Severodonetsk had been attacked from “four separate directions” though Russian forces had not succeeded in breaking into the city.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has said it will not agree to any ceasefire deal that would involve handing over territory to Russia, as Moscow intensified its attack in the eastern Donbas region yesterday.
How is Russia retaliating against what it has called hostile US actions? Russia has released a list of 963 Americans it said were banned from entering the country, a punctuation of previously announced moves against president Joe Biden and other senior US officials.
What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 89 of the invasion.
US would defend Taiwan if attacked by China, says Joe Biden
Joe Biden has said the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if it came under attack from China – a statement that is likely to enrage Beijing as concern grows over Chinese military activity in the region.
Speaking in Tokyo on the second day of his visit to Japan, Biden said the US’s responsibility to protect the self-ruled island – which China considers a renegade province – was “even stronger” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in one of the most forceful statements in support of Taiwan in decades.
“That’s the commitment we made,” Biden said, after he told the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, that Washington backed Japan’s permanent membership of a reformed UN security council and Tokyo’s plans to beef up its security with record levels of defence spending, as it seeks to counter a nuclear-armed North Korea and an increasingly assertive China.
The US president said any attempt by China to use force against Taiwan would “just not be appropriate … it would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine”.
What is the US position on Taiwan? In accordance with Beijing’s “one-China principle”, the US acknowledges Beijing’s position that there is only one Chinese government and does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. But it maintains unofficial contact, including a de facto embassy, and supplies it with military equipment.
Will Texas pick a progressive or anti-abortion Democrat in heated runoff?
The race between Henry Cuellar and Jessica Cisneros for Congress will answer a key question: is the “Democratic machine” still strong or can progressives win?
Texas-28 is a heavily gerrymandered, predominantly Latino congressional district that rides the US-Mexico border, including the city of Laredo, before sprawling across south-central Texas to reach into San Antonio. During the primary election in March, voters there were so split that barely a thousand votes divided Cuellar from Cisneros, while neither candidate received the majority they needed to win.
The runoff on 24 May has come to represent not only a race for the coveted congressional seat, but also a referendum on the future of Democratic politics in Texas and nationally.
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, the House majority whip, James E Clyburn, and the House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, have thrown the full-throated support of the Democratic establishment behind Cuellar, while endorsements from progressive icons including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have elevated Cisneros as a rising star on the national stage.
Is this the first time the pair have faced each other? No. The 2022 election is Cisneros’s second bid to unseat Cuellar, whom she also ran against in 2020 as a first-time, 26-year-old challenger. After she lost that race by less than 4% of the vote, she said she felt compelled to try one more time.
In other news …
Joe Biden said yesterday that “everybody” should be worried about the spread of monkeypox recently, and his national security adviser assured the public that the US has a “vaccine that is relevant to” the virus. During a visit to South Korea, Biden said: “It is a concern in that if it were to spread it would be consequential.”
The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to stage six public hearings in June on how Donald Trump and some allies broke the law as they sought to overturn the 2020 election results, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.
Iran will avenge the killing of a Revolutionary Guards colonel who was shot dead in Tehran, the president, Ebrahim Raisi, has said. Col Hassan Sayad Khodayari was killed yesterday outside his home by assailants on motorcycles. Iran blamed “elements linked to the global arrogance”.
The death toll from powerful thunderstorms in Canada’s two most populous provinces has risen to at least eight, authorities said yesterday, as emergency crews continued a massive clean-up to restore power to half a million people. The storms packed the power of a tornado and left a trail of destruction.
Stat of the day: Tether pays out $10bn in withdrawals since start of crypto crash
Tether, the multibillion-dollar “stablecoin” that functions as the largest bank in the cryptocurrency economy, has paid out $10bn (£8bn) in withdrawals since the crypto crash started in early May. The pace of withdrawals means the company is in effect dealing with a slow-motion bank run, as depositors seek to move their cash to more heavily regulated stablecoins. According to public blockchain records, $1bn of tether was redeemed just after midnight on Saturday.
Don’t miss this: #MeToo is over if we don’t listen to ‘imperfect victims’ like Amber Heard …
“The idea that Heard is a manipulator, a fantasist and an abuser herself has caught fire across all social media, and some more traditional outlets,” writes Martha Gill. “Every sexist trope ever used to humiliate and discredit female accusers has been deployed against her at vast scale. Re-enacting her testimony of rape and abuse has become a game on TikTok. Heard’s tormentors, many of them young women, do not seem to see themselves as anti-feminist. They believe women, of course – just not this one.”
… or this: ‘Redemption is a powerful concept’ – Hayden Christensen on daring to return as Darth Vader
When he took on the roles of Anakin Skywalker and Skywalker’s later incarnation, Darth Vader, in the Star Wars prequels Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005), fans of the franchise couldn’t stomach seeing Darth Vader portrayed as a petulant, whiny brat. Christensen became the lightning rod for their resentment. So why is he risking more in a new TV series? He talks about George Lucas, the pressures of fame and his love of bulldozers
Climate check: US heatwave brings historically high temperatures to dozens of states
Dozens of states across the US began the weekend grappling with historically high spring temperatures, as a blistering heatwave that has scorched the country’s south and west moves east. More than 120 million Americans are in the crosshairs of the heat, raising fears of health risks for the most vulnerable, outdoor workers and those who do not have access to indoor cooling. The National Weather Service issued a special statement cautioning residents to remain vigilant for signs of heat illness, take breaks inside when possible, and stay hydrated.
Last Thing: Peter the Great statue, Vladimir Putin’s gift to Londoners, damaged in attempted robbery
A statue of Peter the Great in Deptford, south London, which Vladimir Putin’s government gifted to the UK, has been damaged in an attempted robbery, leaving a diplomatically awkward repair bill of thousands of pounds. Millennium Quay, the owners of the Thames-side housing estate that surrounds the statue, suggested the Russian embassy could pick up the tab. The embassy has not responded to requests for comment.
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