The Evening: Donbas Attacked, Covid Mandate Thrown Out, Wrecking Ball, and More

Russian Offensive in East Has Started

​​​​Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine has begun, after Russia pummeled Ukraine with one of the broadest barrages of missile attacks in weeks, as the NYT reports.

Lviv sees first wartime deaths

Russian missile strikes killed seven people Monday morning in Lviv, the first deaths reported within city limits, as the Washington Post reports.

Judge Throws Out Federal Mask Mandate for Public Transportation

A federal judge in Florida on Monday declared that the Biden administration’s Covid-19 mask mandate for public transportation is unlawful, invalidating a regulation that required travelers in the U.S. to wear masks on airplanes, trains, taxis, buses, and other forms of public transit, as the WSJ reports.

Executive Education

Dive deep on policy issues and trends, learn to spot drivers of change and model future scenarios with renowned foresight experts, and put your skills to the test in a dynamic crisis simulation in Global Foresight: Preparing for Future Trends, a CSIS Executive Education course.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS's YouTube Channel for the latest releases in our “Crisis Crossroads: Ukraine” video series.

In That Number

30%

Russia's invasion has damaged or destroyed up to 30% of Ukraine's infrastructure, a Ukrainian minister said on Monday.

Source: Reuters

Critical Quote

“Now we can state that the Russian forces have started the battle for the Donbas that they have been getting ready for a long time.”

— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

Recent CSIS satellite imagery analysis indicates that the roots of the recently announced modernization and expansion program at North Korea's Sohae Satellite Launching Station likely date back to 2019.

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and multimedia.

Optics

(Photo credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Firefighters battle a blaze after a civilian building was hit by a Russian missile on April 18, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine.

Recommended Reading

"The Russia-Ukraine War and Global Food Security: A Seven-Week Assessment, and the Way Forward for Policymakers" by CSIS's Caitlin Welsh.

This Town Tomorrow

​​​​At 11:00 a.m., the CSIS Freeman Chair and China Power Project host a discussion on the key takeaways from a Carter Center survey about Chinese public opinion on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Then, at 2:00 p.m., join the CSIS Americas Program for a conversation on the 2022 Summit of the Americas.

And, at 5:00 p.m., join CSIS expert Dan Runde for a virtual armchair discussion with H.E. Paulo Guedes, minister of the economy of Brazil.

Video

Last week, CSIS hosted a conversation with Wopke Hoekstra, vice prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of the Netherlands, about the war in Ukraine and its implications for transatlantic security cooperation. Watch the full video here.

Podcasts

This week, Wood Mackenzie's Ed Crooks joins CSIS expert Joseph Majkut to focus on energy security in light of the ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

Emmylou Harris’ 1995 album “Wrecking Ball” is one of those records that never charted well, but is nonetheless a masterpiece.

Before “Wrecking Ball,” Harris was primarily known as an acoustic country artist. But with this album, she redefined her sound in the image of producer Daniel Lanois’ atmospheric sonic architecture.

Joined by U2’s Larry Mullen Jr., Neil Young, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, and Lanois himself, “Wrecking Ball” won the ’96 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk recording. Tracks like “May This Be Love,” a Jimi Hendrix cover, underscored the power of Harris’ new sound.