Your Monday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/briefing/ukraine-russia-tactics-arctic-military.html

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In the second month of fighting, Russian forces have largely failed to take Ukraine’s largest cities and have narrowed immediate targets to the sieges of Mariupol, which appeared close to falling, and the strategically placed city of Chernihiv in the north. Follow the latest updates.

Ukraine’s top military intelligence officer suggested that Russia was changing its military focus to the south and east and might be trying to divide Ukraine between occupied and non-occupied territories. Air raid sirens rang out in Kyiv, but otherwise the city remained calm, lending some credence to the Russian Defense Ministry’s assertion that it was turning its focus toward the eastern front.

In an interview with Russian journalists yesterday, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that Russian forces had entered parts of Mariupol and that he had told Ukrainian soldiers still holding out there that they could abandon the city to save their own lives. “I talk to them twice a day,” he said. “I told them: ‘If you feel that you need to get out and that it is right, that you can survive, then do it. I understand.’”

Long read: Who is Vladimir Putin? Roger Cohen, our Paris bureau chief, traces the Russian leader’s 22-year slide from statesman to tyrant.

‘A horrendous gaffe’: Biden administration officials were forced to walk back the president’s ad-lib that Putin “cannot remain in power,” which captured the attention of foreign policy experts, lawmakers and allies.

In other news from the war:

Zelensky again called for more weapons from NATO.

Two rockets hit Lviv, suggesting that the western Ukrainian city may no longer be a haven from the worst of the fighting.

Here’s a look at residents’ harrowing journey out of Mariupol to safety.

As climate change opens up the Arctic for transit and exploration, Russia has increasingly militarized the region. Now, with the geopolitical order shifting after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the competition over sovereignty and resources in the Arctic could intensify. The U.S. is preparing a more aggressive presence of its own.

A first-of-its-kind exercise in the frigid Alaska interior took place this month; it involves about 8,000 U.S. troops and was planned long before Russia’s invasion. The drill was driven in part by Russia’s aggressive moves in recent years to militarize the Arctic, a part of the world where the U.S. and Russia share a lengthy maritime boundary.

Melting sea ice has opened new shipping pathways, and nations have eyed the vast hydrocarbon and mineral reserves below the Arctic sea floor. As a result, the complicated treaties, claims and boundary zones that govern the region have been opened to fresh disputes.

Quotable: “Everything is a challenge, from water, fuel, food, moving people, keeping them comfortable,” said one company commander in Alaska.

U.S. plans: The Pentagon intends to increase its presence and capabilities in the area, working to rebuild cold-weather skills neglected during two decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Air Force has transferred dozens of F-35 fighter jets to Alaska, and the Army last year released its first strategic plan for “Regaining Arctic Dominance.”

Two weeks before the first round of voting in the French election, candidates such as Éric Zemmour, a far-right pundit, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a veteran left-wing politician, jostle in the polls below Emmanuel Macron, the centrist incumbent, and Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, hoping to disrupt their widely expected rematch.

Zemmour held a large rally yesterday at the Trocadéro in Paris designed to halt his slide in the polls. The rally of tens of thousands had all the trappings of a last-ditch attempt to revitalize a campaign that started with a bang and then gradually stalled, as the candidate got bogged down in controversies and struggled to broaden his voter base.

Mélenchon, the leader of the far-left France Unbowed movement, has surged recently in voter surveys. He is comfortably in third place with about 14 percent, largely ahead of his competitors on the left and within a few points of Le Pen, whose fierce competition with Zemmour has eaten into her support.

Quotable: “Trust a wise and electoral tortoise like me,” Mélenchon said at a rally in January. “Slow and steady wins the race.” And, he added, mockingly, “I’ve already tired a few hares.”

As the Caribbean moves away from its colonial past, Prince William and his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, had a turbulent tour, marred by gaffes and miscues.

Azerbaijan launched drone strikes against the army of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed region that claims independence but is closely allied with Armenia, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The Chinese authorities confirmed that no one survived the crash of a China Eastern flight with 132 people on board. Both flight recorders have been found.

In an apparently unscripted moment at the Oscars, Will Smith strode onstage and hit Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about the actor’s wife while presenting the best documentary award. Look back at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony.

Top diplomats from Israel, Egypt, the U.A.E., Bahrain, Morocco and the U.S. met yesterday for talks that signaled a realignment of Middle Eastern powers.

Throughout his political career, Senator Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat, helped a power plant that is the sole customer of his private coal business. Along the way, he blocked ambitious climate action.

A birth control pill for male mice was found to be 99 percent effective in preventing pregnancy. Don’t expect a human version to hit the shelves any time soon.

A campaign by a 78-year-old retired doctor against banks closing branches and moving services online has resonated with Spain’s rapidly aging population.

A billionaire property developer is close to completing an extravagant conversion of the Old War Office, an Edwardian-era monument to Britain’s imperial past, in London.

The new property will include lavish residential apartments that until recently would have catered to the same ultrawealthy Russians who have fallen out of favor since the invasion of Ukraine and face sanctions. To say the project has strange timing understates its sheer incongruity.

Decades after his death, Andy Warhol is still everywhere. The artist is the subject of an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, multiple theatrical works and a Netflix documentary series. A play in London, “The Collaboration” — about the relationship between Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat — is being adapted for the big screen.

The current Warhol-mania seems fitting for a figure whose interest in branding and celebrity was well documented — this is someone who’s often attributed to the quotation, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” as Laura Zornosa writes in The Times.

While the Brooklyn Museum exhibition, which runs until June 19, spotlights Warhol’s faith and Catholic upbringing, the Netflix series “The Andy Warhol Diaries” offers a closer look at his romantic relationships and queer identity. “Together, the works create a kaleidoscopic portrait of the human beneath the white wig,” Laura writes.

Mushrooms replace meat in this take on larb.

Sometimes committing to a whole novel is just too much. Try any of these dazzling short-story collections instead.

Enjoy gloriously peculiar folk tunes by the New Zealand singer Aldous Harding.

Play today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Tube-shaped pasta (five letters).

Here’s today’s Wordle and the Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. Thanks for joining me. — Natasha

P.S. Frank Bruni, the longtime Times writer, discussed his new memoir, about losing sight but gaining perspective, on NPR’s “Fresh Air.”

The latest episode of “The Daily” explores how life has changed for Afghan girls under Taliban rule.

You can reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.