Top Russian military officials said Friday the operation in Ukraine was entering a new phase focused on the "complete liberation" of the eastern Donbas region, claiming Russia's assault on cities like Kyiv was part of a strategy to distract Ukrainian forces.
Why it matters: Russia's advance has stalled across most of the country after four weeks of war. The public briefing, which was riddled with false statements, could signal a pivot away from what U.S. officials believed were Russia's original objectives of regime change and long-term control of Ukraine.
Israel on Friday said it will host the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates for an unprecedented two-day meeting with Secretary of State Tony Blinken during his upcoming visit to the country.
Why it matters: The meeting, which Israel's foreign ministry called a "historic diplomatic summit," will be the first time the foreign ministers sit together, and the first visit to Israel by an Emirati foreign minister.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed Friday that he has tasked a special "Tiger Team" of experts to conduct contingency planning for the possibility that Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine or strikes NATO territory.
Why it matters: President Biden promised after a NATO summit in Brussels Thursday that the alliance "will respond" if Russia uses weapons of mass destruction, which officials fear has become increasingly likely as Ukraine's resistance continues to stall Russian advances.
The Moscow Stock Exchange reopened yesterday — kind of — after a monthlong closure that followed the start of the war in Ukraine. The benchmark ruble-denominated index, known as the Moex, rose 4.4% yesterday, and then fell 3.7% today.
The big picture: The reopening was heavily managed by Russian authorities.
At least 300 people were killed by a Russian airstrike on a theater in Mariupol last week, the city’s government said Friday in a social media post, citing eyewitnesses.
The big picture: City officials said over 1,000 people, including children, were inside shelters below the Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre at the time of the strike on March 16.
The White House is looking to thread a policy needle by embracing more U.S. liquefied natural gas shipments to Europe while insisting it's not backing off its commitment to fighting climate change.
Driving the news: On Friday, U.S. and European leaders announced a task force focused on helping to cut the EU's heavy reliance on Russian fossil fuels and boosting clean energy.
President Biden's visit to Poland on Friday will punctuate the country's unlikely turn from illiberal agitator to symbol of European solidarity, putting on hold U.S. and EU concerns about Warsaw's democratic backsliding to celebrate its embrace of over 2 million Ukrainian refugees.
The big picture: In October 2020, Biden described Poland in the same breath as Hungary and Belarus while warning about the "rise of totalitarian regimes." Today, Poland is leading the West in calling for maximalist support for Ukraine as its democracy threatens to be crushed by Vladimir Putin.
