Thanks for joining me, everyone. It’s the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which we discuss in the latest edition of the World News podcast. We’re also watching Gaza ceasefire talks, the Republican South Carolina primary and much more.
A Ukrainian serviceman camouflages a howitzer near the town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia
Where it stands: Ukraine defied expectations by repelling a much larger Russian army and preventing outright defeat, but international aid and military supply deliveries have slowed, and soldiers under heavy artillery fire are dying in the thousands, sometimes for a few miles of land. Read more about the Russian irregulars plugging the gaps in Moscow’s war machine. Russia meanwhile scoffed at the latest US sanctions, and Vladimir Putin resorted to irony in responding to Joe Biden’s comment that he was a “crazy SOB.”
‘I don’t agree to this’: A spokeswoman for Alexei Navalny, who died suddenly a week ago, said Russian authorities told his mother that she had three hours to decide whether to bury him without a public funeral or to have him interred in the Arctic penal colony where he was jailed. Lyudmila Navalnaya said authorities were trying to threaten her into agreeing to a private burial and that she refused to go along with it.
The latest: The head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service met representatives from Qatar, Egypt, and the United States in what appears to be the most serious push in weeks to stop the fighting and release the hostages held by Hamas. The militant group’s leaders held separate talks in Cairo and are waiting to hear what comes from Paris. Palestinian officials said Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for Gaza once the war ends would be doomed to fail. Israel said it would attack Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought shelter if they cannot reach a hostage deal.
A reversal: Israel’s expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank is inconsistent with international law, the Biden administration said. This is a return to the US policy of four decades that the Trump administration did away with in 2019. And Yemen’s Houthis said they will expand their attacks on Red Sea shipping after telling shippers and their insurers that they are banning vessels linked to Israel, the US, and Britain from the region.
Post-it votes: Some Pennsylvania Republicans say Donald Trump’s opposition to mail-in balloting could jeopardize his chances of winning the swing state and are trying to raise $8 million for an education campaign to soothe voters’ concerns about voting by mail. Trump meanwhile told Republicans in Nashville that God needs to step in to help rescue the country and that the stakes in this year’s election are like those on D-Day and in the Battle of the Bulge.
Primary notes: Nikki Haley has said she would stand up to Russian aggression, reform social security, keep trade barriers low, and slash the deficit if she wins the Republican nomination. There’s a lot of evidence that Republicans don’t care. Saturday’s primary in South Carolina is likely to give another big win to Trump. Haley will launch a seven-figure ad campaign aimed at the 15-state Super Tuesday primaries next week, indicating that she’s not finished yet.
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