Your Tuesday Briefing: Russia’s faltering campaign

May 17, 2022

By Amelia Nierenberg

Writer, Briefings

Good morning. We're covering Russia's struggling military campaign, Australia's halting recovery from bush fires and a Covid-19 protest at Peking University.

A damaged apartment complex in Kharkiv.Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

Russia scales back its charge east

After a series of military setbacks, Moscow now appears to be focusing on a narrow objective: widening its holdings in Ukraine's eastern region of Donbas. But even there Russia may be forced to scale back its ambition to take most of eastern Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Russia still controls the wide swath of southern Ukraine it seized early in the war, including Kherson, and continues to impose a naval blockade that is strangling the Ukrainian economy. But Russia has not secured a major strategic gain in the east.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian military released a video purporting to show a small group of soldiers reaching the Russian border near Kharkiv — a powerful symbolic moment. Russian forces had to retreat from the city, Ukraine's second-largest, earlier this month.

NATO: The alliance is preparing to fast-track admission for Finland and Sweden, which formally announced that they will seek membership. On Monday, NATO forces from 14 countries held a large, long-planned military exercise on Russia's doorstep in Estonia, a tough Kremlin critic.

Vladimir Putin: The Russian president is increasingly isolated. He met with his five closest allies on Monday; only Belarus spoke up in support of Putin's war.

Soldiers: Russia has likely run out of combat-ready reservists, forcing it to draw from private companies and militias, the institute reported. But to many Russians, defeat remains inconceivable.

Other updates:

As the U.S. and Europe seek to deprive Russia of oil and gas income, their leaders hope Qatar can help fill the void.
After 32 years, McDonald's is selling its Russian business, once a symbol of globalization.
Olga Koutseridi, a home cook from Mariupol who now lives in Texas, is fighting to preserve her city's distinctive cuisine.

Jamie Robinson, who lost everything during the 2019 fires, has been struggling to rebuild his house.Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

Australia's bush fire reckoning

In late 2019 and early 2020, fires tore through southeastern Australia. Barely one in 10 families in the affected region of southeastern Australia have finished rebuilding, local government data shows. Most have not even started.

The halting recovery efforts could have profound political import. The ruling conservative coalition holds a one-seat majority in Parliament and is already expected to lose some urban seats.

The once-conservative rural towns south of Sydney could also defect. Angered by a lack of government support after the bush fires, they may vote for the opposition Labor party in the Australian election on Sunday.

Background: The record-setting "black summer" bush fires killed 34 people, destroyed 3,500 homes and burned more than 60 million acres over two months.

Analysis: Our Sydney bureau chief, Damien Cave, spoke to the Climate Forward newsletter about climate's role in the Australian election.

The U.S.: Half of all addresses in the lower 48 states are at risk of wildfire damage. Climate change will make the U.S. even more combustible.

Peking University has a history of occasional organized unrest.Thomas Peter/Reuters

Peking University's Covid protest

Students at one of China's most elite academic institutions protested strict Covid-19 lockdown requirements on Sunday, arguing that the measures were poorly communicated and unfair.

Students are upset that they cannot order food and are required to isolate, while teachers and their families can leave the campus freely. On an online forum, one student called the policy contradictory. Another said it was "a joke indeed."

In response to student frustrations, the authorities tried to put up a wall separating students from faculty and staff. More than 200 people left their dorms to protest.

Reaction: The government quickly moved to censor videos and photos from the brief protest, which quickly spread on China's internet.

Analysis: Peking University, which has a history of occasional organized unrest, holds a special place in Beijing's cultural and political life. The demonstration underscores a growing challenge for officials, who must assuage anger while fighting the highly infectious Omicron variant.

In other news:

Evidence is growing that Covid-19 has mutated to infect people repeatedly, sometimes within months, a potentially long-term pattern.

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THE LATEST NEWS

World News

Tensions were high in the Somali capital ahead of Sunday's presidential election. Malin Fezehai for The New York Times

President Biden approved plans to redeploy hundreds of Special Operations forces inside Somalia and target Al Shabab leaders.
Conservatives kept Germany's most populous state, a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his party.
President Emmanuel Macron of France named a new, left-leaning and climate-focused prime minister: Élisabeth Borne. Currently the minister of labor, she will be the second woman to occupy the position.

Buffalo Shooting

Investigators searched for evidence at the supermarket.Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters

Here are live updates from the Saturday mass shooting in upstate New York.

The accused shooter, an 18-year-old white man, had previously been investigated for a violent threat. He had planned to attack a second target.
Officials released the full list of victims, almost all of whom were Black.
The gunman published a hate-filled racist screed before the attack, connecting it to the livestreamed murder of 51 people by a gunman at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.
Some right-wing politicians have helped promote "replacement theory," the racist ideology that the gunman espoused. In recent years, other perpetrators of mass shootings have also cited the idea, popularized on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show.
In other news: A gunman killed one person and critically wounded four others at a Southern California church before congregants overpowered him and tied him up. He has been charged with murder.

A Morning Read

"I keep telling the other sisters, 'Get on TikTok!'" Sister Monica Clare said. "'If we're hidden, we're going to die out.'"Daniel Dorsa for The New York Times

Nuns are joining TikTok, offering a window into their cloistered experiences. "We're not all grim old ladies reading the Bible," one said.

Lives lived: Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma single-handedly elevated the santoor, a 100-string instrument little known outside Kashmir, into a prominent component of Hindustani classical music. He died last week at 84.

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ARTS AND IDEAS

Optimizing "happiness"

Long before the pandemic, many rolled their eyes at companies that purported to be focused on keeping workers feeling happy: tech companies with ball pits and slides, banking firms with lunch buffets and frozen rosé.

Now, as corporate America trundles back to long-dormant office spaces, companies are in hot pursuit of similar gimmicks like a Lizzo concert at Google and beer tastings at Microsoft.

There's a lot of social science research to suggest that happiness does lead to productivity and profit. But it's not cheap: A "happiness M.B.A." program for senior leaders is $18,000, not to mention the costs of so-called perks.

However, many workers prefer flexibility over a one-off rave. Instead of fomenting genuine happiness, the corporate carrots carry a whiff of pandering, a transparent attempt to turn feelings into productivity.

"People are trying to get everything back to 'normal,' but the truth is, normal was terrible for some people," a program officer at a global foundation said. "Why not just give people what they actually want?"

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

Beatriz Da Costa for The New York Times

Brown butter brings nuttiness to this easy salmon with asparagus and peas.

What to Listen to

Kendrick Lamar released a new album: "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers." In it, our critic writes, Lamar is "anguished, ravaged by his past and grappling with how to make tomorrow better, besieged by a collision of self-doubt and obstinacy."

The World Through a Lens

This photo essay is an intimate look at Mexico's Indigenous Seri people, whose identity is tied to their now-threatened natural environment.

Now Time to Play

Play today's Mini Crossword and a clue: Ninnies (five letters).

Here are today's Wordle and today's Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That's it for today's briefing. See you next time. — Amelia

P.S. The Pentagon's press secretary praised a Pulitzer-winning Times investigation into U.S. airstrikes, saying a free press should hold the government to account.

The latest episode of "The Daily" is on the racist theory fueling mass shootings in the U.S.

You can reach Amelia and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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