Good morning. We’re covering Russia’s military advance in Ukraine and an interview with the former Palestinian militia leader Zakaria Zubeidi. Plus, a wedding day without rain.
Russia made battlefield gains ahead of talksAfter months of grinding warfare, Russian forces have made a swift advance in eastern Ukraine. The gains come as President Vladimir Putin is expected to present President Trump with major demands during their summit in Alaska on Friday. In recent days, Russia’s troops broke through a segment of Ukraine’s defensive line near the city of Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian stronghold in the Donetsk region. Russian forces have partly surrounded the city and are likely to tighten the noose around Pokrovsk to force Ukrainian troops to withdraw, a tactic they have used to capture other cities. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that the Russians “are redeploying their troops and forces in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations,” and “not preparing for a cease-fire or an end to the war.” Ukraine is also seeking an edge before the talks. Kyiv has ramped up attacks on Russian oil refineries, pressuring Moscow by targeting its main source of revenue. Kyiv and its European allies insist that any meaningful peace talks should begin only after a cease-fire and that the current front line should be the starting point of negotiations. But with Russia’s swift gains in the east in recent days, this line may have shifted by Friday.
A former Palestinian militant sees ‘no solution’Zakaria Zubeidi has tried almost everything during his decades of fighting for Palestinian sovereignty. In the early 2000s, Zubeidi led the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group affiliated with Fatah, Hamas’s secular rival. Years later he stopped fighting and helped set up a theater. Jailed a decade later, he briefly escaped prison through a tunnel but was recaptured days later. Now, Zubeidi has become emblematic of something else: a sense of hopelessness that imbues Palestinian life. He told The Times that he felt all those efforts to forge a Palestinian state had proven futile. “We have to reconsider our tools,” he said in his first major interview since he was released in a prisoner swap in January. “We founded a theater, and we tried cultural resistance — what did that do? We tried the rifle, we tried shooting. There’s no solution.” Related: The families of Israeli hostages called for a nationwide strike on Sunday to push for a cease-fire with Hamas.
Wildfires blazed as a heat wave battered southern EuropeSouthern Europe was sweltering yesterday under relentless and life-threatening heat that fueled wildfires that left at least two people dead, one in Spain and one in France. Spain and France were expected to get the worst of the heat. Forecasters are warning that temperatures in some places would exceed 40 degrees Celsius. The extreme heat is the result of a large high-pressure system drawing in warm, dry air over the continent — and could last through at least Monday for many places. Here’s what you need to know.
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For her wedding day in Bali this year, Swank Wong arranged for a champagne tower, fireworks and multicolored smoke cannons. But perhaps her most critical investment was the rain-stopping shaman she hired to guarantee sunshine on her special day. Rain stoppers, who dance, burn incense, meditate or pray to control the elements, don’t always succeed. But some newlyweds swear by them. “When you’re spending six-plus figures on a destination wedding, a little spiritual insurance never hurts,” a wedding designer said. Lives lived: Sheila Jordan, a revered jazz vocalist whose singing communicated effervescent joy, died at 96.
The opera star who won’t slow downFor Cecilia Bartoli, who was born and raised in Rome, the secret to opera and good ragù is the same: time. At 59, an age when many opera stars wind down their careers, Bartoli runs two opera houses, a festival and her own orchestra. And her voice still has the plush tone, control and coloratura that made her famous three decades ago. At the Salzburg Whitsun Festival in Austria this summer, she is both the artistic director and the biggest attraction, shifting constantly from performer to audience member, from party host to cheerleader. This month, she extended her contract there through 2031, cementing herself as the festival’s longest-serving leader. Read more about everything she’s juggling. We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
Cook: Serve these tomato basil chicken breasts with a crisp salad and bread for mopping up that sauce. Read: “The Melting Point” and two other books examine the costs of endless conflict. |
