Category: NYTimes

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Ukraine was likely behind the drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month. The attack was part of a series of covert operations against Russian targets that have unnerved the Biden administration. U.S. officials believe the attack was orchestrated by one of Ukraine’s special military or intelligence units, though it is unclear whether President Volodymyr Zelensky or his top officials were aware of the operation.

The attack punctured the sense of security and invincibility the Kremlin has sought to portray within Moscow despite the chaos it has created with its war in Ukraine. U.S. officials have cautioned Ukraine against conducting high-profile attacks inside Russia, citing the risk of escalation.

The U.S. has intercepted communications in which Russian officials blamed Ukraine for the attack and Ukrainian officials said they believed their country was responsible. U.S. officials say they suspect that Mr. Zelensky and his top aides have set the broad parameters of the covert campaign, leaving decisions about who and what to target to the security services and their operatives.

The attack appears to have had little effect so far on the course of the conflict in Ukraine, but it has demonstrated Kyiv’s ability to penetrate deep inside Russia. U.S. officials say the goal of the operations may be to bolster Ukrainian morale and to pierce the aura of invulnerability that surrounds President Vladimir V. Putin.

This week, France officially enacted a ban on short domestic flights, claiming it was a major step in the fight against climate change. However, critics say the measure is largely symbolic, as it only applies to three routes and is riddled with exceptions. The ban does not apply to connecting flights, and it carves out an exception for Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, one of Europe’s busiest passenger hubs. Moreover, the French government has yet to make rail transportation more alluring, by helping the national railway company push ticket prices down and investing more in railway infrastructure. If the ban on short-haul flights only encourages French airports to reallocate more takeoff slots to long-distance ones, “we aren’t going to be saving a whole lot of CO2,” said Geneviève Laferrère, who handles transportation issues for France Nature Environnement. The government should focus on “tangible” goals, like sustainable aviation fuel and electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft, in order to make a real difference in the fight against climate change.

One year ago today, a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Tamir Kalifa, an independent photojournalist based in Austin, traveled to Uvalde shortly after the shootings — but he kept coming back. Tamir temporarily moved to Uvalde to live alongside the victims’ families, renting a 320-square-foot shipping container converted into a home.

We’re devoting today’s newsletter to some of the photographs Tamir has taken over the past year and to excerpts from his interviews with families. Tamir has captured the grief of the victims’ families and friends, as they mark holidays, visit graves, protest, and find solace in activism.

“The grieving cycles do not match the media cycles,” Tamir said. “We move on, but families don’t.”

Tamir’s photos and stories are a powerful reminder of the lasting impact of gun violence and the resilience of the Uvalde community. You can see more of Tamir’s photos here.

Residents of Guam are bracing for the arrival of Super Typhoon Mawar, the second named storm of the season in the Western Pacific. With maximum sustained winds of 140 mph, the storm is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane. The island is no stranger to tropical cyclones, but it has been nearly 20 years since the last big one, Super Typhoon Pongsona, hit the island.

President Biden declared an emergency for Guam on Tuesday night, allowing federal agencies to assist with relief efforts. The island is now firmly on an emergency footing, with evacuation orders, a flash flood warning and a halt to commercial aviation.

The Roman Catholic church in Guam has urged its congregants to find good in the midst of the storm, and to show kindness and care for those in need. The island’s population is predominantly Catholic, and the message of hope is a reminder of the strength of the community.

Guam is used to tropical cyclones, but the arrival of Super Typhoon Mawar is a reminder of the power of nature and the importance of being prepared.

In Peru, investigations into the killing of protesters by security forces are often closed without any charges, leaving families of victims without justice and undermining people’s faith in their government. Antonia Huillca, a 51-year-old Quechua farmer, is one of many who have been left without answers after her husband was shot and killed during a protest in 2016. José Cárdenas, whose younger brother was killed in 2015 in clashes with the police, said “My brother didn’t die in an accident. He was shot.” Yet, over the past two decades, prosecutors have not won a single conviction against police or military officers or their superiors for killings at protests. A lack of accountability for excessive use of force by security agencies is a serious human rights failure, according to civil rights organizations. President Dina Boluarte has blamed the deadly clashes on protesters who have blocked roads and attacked security forces with rocks and slingshots. It is time for Peru to take action and ensure that justice is served for the victims of police brutality.

After 10 months of brutal fighting, Russian forces have seized the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. But what comes next for Russia is unclear. Analysts say Moscow’s exhausted forces will settle into a defensive crouch, preparing for Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Both sides have suffered thousands of casualties and expended significant resources in the battle for the city. Ukraine is now training new formations, armed and equipped by the West, and is expected to launch a broader counteroffensive. Russia has dug an intricate network of primary and secondary trench lines and minefields to thwart any Ukrainian advance. Ukraine has also made small gains to the north and south of Bakhmut, putting their forces in a better position to prevent Russian troops from advancing further. The aftershocks of the battle for Bakhmut are not yet fully known, both in terms of overall casualties on both sides or how much equipment or ammunition was lost or destroyed. The fight for Bakhmut has since claimed thousands more casualties.

On Tuesday, a Moscow court extended the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested on March 29 on unsupported accusations of espionage. The court refused bail and extended Gershkovich’s detention until August 30. The United States government and The Wall Street Journal have vehemently rejected the charges, saying that “reporting is not a crime.”

Gershkovich’s parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, were allowed into the hearing and saw their son for the first time since his arrest. Afterward, they were whisked away in the company of one of Gershkovich’s lawyers. Ms. Milman wore a “Free Evan” button.

The United States government, The Wall Street Journal, numerous colleagues, groups supporting press freedom and prominent international officials have all condemned Gershkovich’s detention and called the accusations made against him utterly baseless.

Gershkovich has been held at the notoriously harsh Lefortovo jail since his arrest. If convicted, Gershkovich would face up to 20 years in a Russian penal colony. The Biden administration is known to be working to secure an early release for Gershkovich.

The case has contributed to the sharp deterioration in relations between Russia and the United States. Russian-American relations are in a state of acute tension over the war in Ukraine, and President Vladimir V. Putin has embarked on a drive to suppress independent news outlets and free speech in general.

The United States government has asserted that Gershkovich is “wrongfully detained” and has called for him to be freed immediately. The White House has opened the way for a wide range of steps to secure his release.

Anti-Kremlin fighters aligned with Ukraine launched a rare cross-border assault into southern Russia on Monday, with reports of an explosion at a defense factory and skirmishes at a crossing. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had pushed back all of the pro-Ukrainian fighters across the border from the region of Belgorod and that scores of “saboteurs” had been killed. Ukraine has denied any direct involvement in the incursions, casting the border attacks as a sign of internal division in Russia.

The Free Russia Legion, made up of Russians who have taken up arms for Ukraine, claimed responsibility for taking the war to Russian territory. The volunteer unit operates under the umbrella of Ukraine’s International Legion, forces overseen by Ukrainian officers. A group of pro-Russian analysts feared that the attacks opened a new set of battlefield problems for Moscow.

The incursions could deepen fear in Russia and dent President Vladimir V. Putin’s popularity, said Ivan Fomin, a Russian analyst with the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis. But the incursion could also have a rally-round-the-flag effect, he said. A British defense intelligence agency statement confirmed that fighting had “highly likely” broken out in three locations in the Belgorod region.

Russia faces a growing security threat on the border with “losses of combat aircraft, improvised explosive device attacks on rail lines, and now direct partisan action,” the statement said. It also said Moscow would most likely use the attacks to “support the official narrative that it is the victim in the war.”

The United States Navy has increased its patrols in the Strait of Hormuz in response to recent moves by Iran to seize two oil tankers. The U.S. Navy is sending more ships, drones, and planes to the region to send a signal to Iran that the U.S. and its allies are watching. The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow passageway between the United Arab Emirates and Oman on one side and Iran on the other, and is a major shipping route for oil tankers.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter, preceded by a Navy drone vessel, sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, along with the U.S.S. Paul Hamilton, a guided-missile destroyer. The Pentagon has said that it is not sending additional ships or planes to the region, but instead moving those already in the area through the Strait of Hormuz more frequently.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said that the U.S. “will not allow foreign or regional powers to jeopardize freedom of navigation in the Middle East waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran has argued that its action against the two merchant ships came after they both violated international maritime regulations. Nasser Kanani, a spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Iran considers the presence of foreign military forces in the waters of the Persian Gulf as a threat to the security of navigation in the region.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have been escalating for years, and the recent moves by the U.S. Navy are a sign of the continued tensions in the region.

On Tuesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged that he had been informed that the government’s top human rights official, Alejandro Encinas, was being spied on. However, he sought to downplay the surveillance, saying “we do not spy.”

The New York Times revealed that Encinas was hacked by the world’s most notorious spyware, Pegasus, while he was investigating abuses by the country’s military. Pegasus can infiltrate cellphones without leaving any trace of an intrusion and extract every piece of data from them.

The only entity that has access to Pegasus in Mexico is the military, according to five people familiar with the contracts for the spyware. Encinas leads the government’s truth commission into the 2014 disappearance of 43 students, one of the worst human rights violations in the country’s recent history.

Several rights groups condemned López Obrador’s comments, with the Centro Prodh tweeting, “We regret that the president minimizes the espionage his administration carries out.” A group of independent experts conducting an inquiry into the 43 students’ disappearance called for the attorney general’s office to investigate the cyber attacks on Encinas.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense has ordered several countries to be disconnected from Pegasus, but did not cancel the Mexican army’s license and later extended it. NSO Group, the spyware’s manufacturer, has opened an investigation into the reported abuses of Pegasus in Mexico.

It remains to be seen how this inquiry will affect the fate of the spyware in Mexico, where Pegasus has been used against human rights defenders and journalists for years with almost no accountability.