A buildup of Russian troops
With hundreds of thousands of Russian troops now in Ukraine, officials are warning that a new Russian offensive that could rival the start of the war is underway, with the Kremlin seeking to reshape the battlefield and seize the momentum.
Russia is targeting dozens of places a day in a markedly increased barrage of artillery attacks. Ukrainian forces are struggling to hold their ground on a 140-mile stretch in the east, awaiting tanks and other weapons systems from the West. Fighting is concentrated around the forlorn eastern city of Bakhmut, where Russian forces have been slowly closing in on supply lines.
Ukraine and Russia have been locked in grueling combat for nearly a year. Since the fall, the fight in the east has congealed into muddy and frozen trenches, each army facing significant losses with only negligible gains. Both sides have been readying for heavier ground combat, with Moscow aiming to capture the entire Donbas region and Kyiv looking to drive Russian troops completely out of the country.
By the numbers: Ukrainian intelligence estimates that Russia now has more than 320,000 soldiers in the country — roughly twice the size of Moscow’s initial invasion force. Western officials and military analysts have said that Moscow also has 150,000 to 250,000 soldiers in reserve, either training or being positioned inside Russia to join the fight at any time.
Vaccine makers kept $1.4 billion for canceled Covid shots
As global demand for Covid-19 vaccines dries up, Gavi, a nongovernmental organization responsible for the program that aimed to vaccinate the world’s poor, is making urgent attempts to get out of deals for shots it no longer needs. Drug companies have so far declined to refund $1.4 billion in advance payments for now-canceled doses.
Early in the pandemic, Gavi was charged with buying Covid vaccinations for poorer nations and began negotiations with the vaccine makers. Those companies initially prioritized high-income countries that were able to pay more to lock up the first doses. Gavi eventually reached deals with nine manufacturers.
The shots did not begin to reach poorer countries in significant numbers until late 2021, as demand had begun to decline. Under the contracts, the companies are not obligated to return prepayments for vaccines that were ultimately canceled.
Response: In light of how many vaccine doses Gavi has had to cancel, some public health experts criticized the companies’ actions. Covid vaccine manufacturers “have a special responsibility” because their products are a societal good and most were developed with public funding, one nonprofit leader said. “That’s a lot of money that could do a lot of good.”
Anticorruption raids in Ukraine
The Ukrainian authorities carried out dozens of searches across the country in connection with corruption allegations, two days before Volodymyr Zelensky, the country’s president, is scheduled to host leaders of the E.U. The raids were described by security officials as “the first stage” in anticorruption efforts.
The Security Service of Ukraine said that the raids targeted individuals “whose actions harm the security of the state in various spheres.” Weeks earlier, a rash of government officials were forced from office.
The searches appeared at least partly timed to show E.U. officials that Zelensky’s government remained serious about getting chronic corruption under control. Ukraine first filed a request to join the E.U. after Russia invaded in February 2022, setting off a series of negotiations that will require legal, political and economic changes, as well as a crackdown on corruption.
Context: Zelensky rode a wave of public anger to win the presidential election in 2019, promising to clean up rampant corruption in Ukraine. Since then, the country’s score in Transparency International’s annual survey has risen to 33 from 30, a sign of improvement.
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Around the World
Imagine that many men started waking in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. Those men stumbled to work, exhausted, their morale low, suddenly so warm they tore off their jackets. Their genitals became dry and irritable, even showing signs of what doctors called “atrophy.”
Imagine that many of their doctors had received little to no training on how to manage these symptoms — and when the subject arose, simply said that this process was natural and failed to tell them about established treatments. For many women undergoing menopause, this is reality.
“It suggests that we have a high cultural tolerance for women’s suffering,” one doctor said. “It’s not regarded as important.”
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ARTS AND IDEAS
Falling in love with 21st-century jazz
Where is jazz today? Just a dozen years ago, the music seemed to be having a crisis of self-worth. But over the past five or 10 years, you could say that jazz has gone through a kind of ego death and then a rebirth. Jazz as a general practice hasn’t been this alive in decades.
The Times asked writers and jazz musicians of various generations to recommend their favorite recordings from this millennium. These excerpts have been lightly edited and condensed. Sample their picks, listen to a playlist and leave your favorites in the comments.
Terri Lyne Carrington, drummer: “Kassa Overall is such an artist. I love his song “Who’s on the Playlist” because it invites the question, ‘Is this jazz or is this hip-hop?’ It powerfully exhibits the consistent innovation in the continuum of Black music and encourages us not to draw lines in the sand.”
Theo Croker, trumpeter: “Domi & JD Beck, they don’t sound jaded by jazz school; they sound like they’re doing their thing. It has a lot of integrity, but it’s also playful; it’s very technical, but it’s also fun.”
Melanie Charles, vocalist and flutist: “Renée Neufville’s voice fits perfectly with Roy Hargrove’s playing and singing. Compositionally, the tune appears to be very simple. However, if you try to sing along, you find it may require a bit more out of you. And that’s the fun of it.”