Ukrainian forces have embarked on a monthslong counteroffensive in an effort to block Russia from capturing the rest of the Donbas region in the country’s east. So far, analysts say, Ukraine has reclaimed dozens of square miles of territory.
As part of the campaign — which Kyiv is calling Operation Vivaldi — Ukraine dropped ground-based drones from the air and used them to sow chaos in Russian-controlled territory. It also pushed forward with armored vehicles, killing more than 5,000 Russian troops, Ukraine’s president said. In the southern Donbas, Russia continues to mount furious assaults, and President Vladimir Putin of Russia has claimed that the fall of the Donbas will happen faster than Kyiv thinks. But Russian gains have slowed, and Western researchers generally agree Russia has gained only slightly more territory than it has lost this year.
In other news, a judge requires the state to preserve evidence from a failed execution in Tennessee, where death row inmate Christa Pike survived two doses of a drug meant to kill her. The Supreme Court is weighing if the military can explode bombs on a beach in Guam. Scientists also seek longevity secrets from Jonathan the giant tortoise, the world’s oldest known land animal, after sequencing his genome.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing