Your Monday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/10/briefing/russia-bridge-rwanda-migrants.html

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A fireball consumed two sections of the only bridge linking the occupied Crimean Peninsula to Russia on Saturday, disrupting the most important supply line for Russian troops fighting in southern Ukraine. The attack dealt an embarrassing — if mostly symbolic — blow to the Kremlin, which is facing continued losses on the battlefield and mounting criticism at home.

Yesterday, as some prominent Russians called for fierce reprisals, the Kremlin launched a barrage of rockets at Ukrainian civilian areas, sending a deadly reminder that for all its battlefield losses, Moscow can still inflict mass misery. Missiles slammed into civilian areas of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 20 people.

Though Russian officials made a show of reopening the bridge to some automobile and train traffic, the extent of the damage, as well as the timeline for Moscow to resume the transport of much-needed military equipment and ammunition, remains unclear. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, decried the explosion as a terrorist attack. Details about how it was carried out remain spotty.

Responsibility: The government in Kyiv has not yet officially claimed the attack. However, Ukrainian officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the country’s intelligence services were behind the bombing and that explosives had been loaded onto a truck that was driven onto the bridge and detonated.

In other news from the war:

Over two weeks, Ukraine used an advantageous front line to take back more than 1,200 square miles, as these maps show.

As Ukrainians move back into recaptured territory, their villages are haunted by the mementos Russian soldiers left behind.

How likely is a nuclear war between Russia and the U.S.? Here’s what we know.

At a time when Western nations are adopting increasingly tough stances against migrants, Rwanda has opened its borders to refugees, striking deals with European countries like Britain and Denmark to house deported asylum seekers.

Small and densely populated, Rwanda has over the last 25 years become an ambitious state that punches above its weight politically, economically and on the security front. Paul Kagame, its president, has also positioned Rwanda as a major host of refugees from African countries like Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan.

Rwanda now wants to be a close partner to Western nations desperate to curb illegal migration, despite the fact that the country has jailed and threatened to expel refugees as well as denied refuge to L.G.B.T.Q. asylum seekers. The government says it is motivated by altruism; critics say the country hopes to benefit financially and geopolitically — as well as to deflect attention from its problematic record on human rights.

Kagame: The president's almost three-decade rule has come under increasing scrutiny for suppressing political dissent and free speech.

In the spring, Republicans seemed poised to take over the House in the upcoming midterm elections in November. Then the overturning of Roe v. Wade galvanized Democrats. Now, as the momentum shifts again, the final stretch of the 2022 midterms defies predictability — even as Republicans remain the favored party.

Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, seen as the likeliest to change party hands, have emerged as the epicenter of the Senate fight. Republicans’ ads have focused on the lackluster economy, crime, inflation and an unpopular President Biden. Democrats have drawn attention to the stripping away of abortion rights and the specter of Donald Trump’s allies returning to power.

One challenge for Democrats is that they have no margin for error. Clinging to a 50-50 Senate and a single-digit House majority, they are seeking to defy not only history but Biden’s unpopularity. Come November, whichever party’s issue set is more dominant in the minds of the electorate is expected to have the upper hand.

Senate: If a single state flips to the Republicans, they would control the chamber. But recruiting failures have hampered Senate Republicans throughout 2022, and Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, complained over the summer about “candidate quality.”

Months of diplomacy have failed to stop the fighting in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray. Now, the civil war is plunging into its most alarming phase yet.

Ten people were killed and eight injured after an explosion on Friday afternoon at a gas station in the Irish village of Creeslough, northwest of Belfast.

Last month, the Greek government began trying to deploy police officers at four universities, stoking vehement protests and prompting accusations of authoritarian tactics.

Heavy rains and landslides have left at least 22 people dead and 52 missing in a single town in north-central Venezuela.

A giant pumpkin sculpture by the artist Yayoi Kusama — or, at least, a replica of the original — has been reinstalled on the Japanese island where it was thrashed by a typhoon last year.

Harvey Weinstein’s second sex crimes trial begins today in Los Angeles.

California’s bullet train is America’s first experiment with high-speed rail. But political compromises have made the project so expensive that it may never be completed.

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, has been temporarily blocked from posting on Instagram and Twitter after making antisemitic posts on both platforms.

What if burnout is less about work and more about isolation, Tish Harrison Warren asks.

It’s time for the U.S. to support the Iranian women calling for change, members of The Times’s editorial board write.

The U.S. intelligence classification system exists not to to keep secrets safe but to control the narrative, Chelsea Manning says.

Kashmir Hill spent dozens of hours in the metaverse: the immersive, three-dimensional internet that Mark Zuckerberg has bet the future of his company on.

“I wanted to understand who was currently there and why, and whether the rest of us would ever want to join them,” she writes.

More than 130 people went to a soccer match and didn’t come home: A stadium tragedy in Indonesia killed more than 130 people. During those final moments there was fear, indescribable pain and, for so many, no way out.

England and the U.S. unify to take a stand against abuse: In front of 76,000 fans at Wembley Stadium on Friday, both teams sent out a message that abuse of female soccer players must stop.

3 marathons, 3 wins, 3 medals: From The Times, a profile of Susannah Scaroni, a Paralympic gold medalist, who broke three vertebrae when she was hit by a car a year ago. Yesterday, she won the Chicago Marathon, her third wheelchair marathon in three weeks.

Even when she was alive, Empress Elisabeth of Austria fueled an air of mystery: her shoulder tattoo; her habit of breakfast wine; her obsessive exercise regimen; and her refusal to have her picture taken after her early 30s. To this day, she appears on chocolate boxes and bottles of rosé around Vienna, where her cocaine syringe and gym equipment are still on display.

Nearly 125 years after Elisabeth’s assassination, at age 60, two new productions — a new Netflix series called “The Empress” and a film called “Corsage” that debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May — offer their own ideas of the empress.

“Her image is one you can reimagine and reinterpret and fill with your own imagination, because we have a lot of stories about her, but you don’t know if they’re true,” said Marie Kreutzer, who wrote and directed “Corsage.”

Though Elisabeth shied from the public eye, as the empress of Austria she was widely discussed. “She was thrust into the spotlight as this young girl who was chosen by the emperor, in large part because of her physical beauty,” said Allison Pataki, who wrote two historical novels about Elisabeth.

Caramelizing the onions in this classic French soup is time-consuming but worth the effort.

This verse by Brenda Hillman describes the rarity of love.

An abundance of vampire content hits the small screen this October.

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: How many new parents feel (five letters).

And here are today’s Wordle and the Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. Wishing you a fabulous Monday. — Natasha

P.S. Start your week with the mood-boosting Joy Workout — six research-backed moves to bring a smile to your face.

Listen to the “The Sunday Read,” about the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life, or catch up on Friday’s episode of “The Daily,” on nuclear weapons.

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