A Russian attack on NATO’s door
Russia yesterday launched a barrage of attacks on a military base in Ukraine, pushing the war 18 kilometers from the border with Poland. About 1,000 foreigners who had come to help Ukraine are said to have trained at the base. “The whole sky was in flames,” said one witness.
Western officials said the attack was not only a geographic extension of the Russian invasion, but also a shift in tactics in a war that many feared would escalate into a larger European conflict. Follow the latest conflict updates.
Pentagon and NATO officials reiterated that they had no intention of confronting Russian forces in Ukraine directly. But they are sending military supplies, and Russia has warned it views those convoys as legitimate targets. The stricken military base has been a hub for Western military forces to train Ukrainian troops since 2015.
Until yesterday, the invasion of Ukraine, now on its 18th day, was most notable for Moscow’s indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas. Even as it bombed the military base in the west, Russia continued to punish ordinary Ukrainians, including shooting a train in eastern Ukraine carrying more than 100 children trying to flee the violence. Peace talks are expected to continue today.
Toll: At least 596 civilians were killed in the war, including 43 children, and another 1,067 civilians were injured, according to the UN, according to the UN. The death toll of Ukrainian officials is much higher, with an estimated 2,187 casualties in the besieged city of Mariupol since the start of the war.
supplications: Western officials continue to reject requests from Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to establish a no-fly zone over the country. A no-fly zone, a Pentagon spokesman said, “is fighting — you have to be willing to shoot and be shot at.”
In other news from the war:
The Russian government asked China for military equipment and financial aid to protect its economy, US officials said, who declined to say how China responded.
In the outskirts of Kiev, Brent Renaud, an award-winning American filmmaker and journalist recording the toll the war has taken on refugees, was fatally shot.
Hundreds of aircraft from Western companies are still in Russia. They may never be recovered, meaning the companies are incurring billions of dollars in losses.
Britain takes on oligarchs
The Russian war in Ukraine eventually led the British government to attack the ultra-wealthy Russians in London. But curbing the flow of corrupt money takes more than the highly visible oligarchs like Roman Abramovich.
Hundreds of wealthy foreigners have exploited Britain’s lax regulations to amass property and other assets, often under a web of offshore companies disguising their ownership. Others have cashed in on their fortunes into gold-edged social status, donating respected British cultural and educational institutions or donating money to the Conservative Party.
Despite announcing new sanctions on Friday, Britain is on some level just catching up with the US and the EU. , he has been slower to target the wealthy Russians of London. That, critics say, reflects the fact that his party has been the beneficiary of their generosity.
citable: “The crisis brought to light the issue of Kremlin-linked money in the UK, but it’s a much more systemic, global issue, with London protecting this kind of money,” said Flo Hutchings, who helped found the group. Kensington Against Dirty Money. “We hope this situation will have a snowball effect.”
“Houses for Ukraine”: The British government will provide £350 a month to people hosting Ukrainian refugees as part of an effort to encourage individuals, charities, community groups and businesses to host those fleeing the war.
Related: Closed shops and taunts from rivals greeted fans at Chelsea’s first home game since sanctions against Abramovich cast doubt on their team’s future.
Severe coronavirus infections have disproportionately affected New Caledonians of Pacific Island descent, pointing to social inequalities in an area concerned about whether or not France will be liberated.
Many indigenous Kanaks have diabetes, hypertension or obesity, or are also impoverished. European settlers, who make up about a quarter of the population, tend to occupy the area’s higher wealth levels.
Region: Fueled by the Omicron strain, the coronavirus is now reaching parts of the South Pacific that had largely avoided the pandemic. Hundreds are now infected in Tonga – a wave most likely catalyzed by ships bringing aid after a volcanic eruption and tsunami in January – while Kiribati and the Solomon Islands have had their own first outbreaks.
In other developments:
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ART AND IDEAS
Fresh eyes on an old site
It’s time to bring the 2,000-year-old city of Pompeii into the 21st century.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the site’s 40-year-old director, hopes that under his supervision, visitors will gain a broader understanding of the ancient city — which was buried in ash by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 — including the roles of race, gender, and gender. class within its complex society. And he’s using technology to try to protect the site from the ravages of climate change.
“We must not forget that all the wealth and artwork that we see in Pompeii is really based on a society where not only slavery existed, but also no concept of social welfare,” he said. Last year, archaeologists discovered a grim room where they believed an enslaved family had lived. The cramped space, lit by a single window, may have also served as a storage area.
Other experts praised the approach, which is part of a broader shift in archaeology. “Often archaeologists can be conservative with the topics they cover,” said one historian, adding, “I’m excited to see things start happening at Pompeii.”
