Your Monday Briefing: Ukraine gains ground

By Amelia Nierenberg

Writer, Briefings

Good morning. We’re covering Ukrainian gains in territory and a lockdown in Xinjiang, a region in western China.

Ukraine strikes a major blow

Ukraine has been moving forward in a lightning advance that appears to have reshaped the war and smashed what had been a monthslong stalemate.

Ukrainian forces appear to have driven Russian troops from almost all of the Kharkiv region, in the northeast. Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that the military had retaken Izium, a strategically important railway hub that Russian forces seized in the spring after a bloody, weekslong battle.

The rapid gains — Ukraine’s most significant since April — have profoundly weakened Russia’s grip on eastern Ukraine, which it has used as a stronghold. Yesterday, Ukraine claimed additional territory and was poised to advance on more towns held by Moscow. Here are live updates and a map of where Russian forces are retreating in northeastern Ukraine.

Reaction: In Russia, once-vocal supporters of the invasion criticized President Vladimir Putin. In Ukraine, the push has buoyed spirits and galvanized calls for even more Western military support.

Nuclear: Ukraine has begun shutting down the Zaporizhzhia power plant, a safety measure as fighting continues around the facility.

China: Russia said a senior Chinese official offered Beijing’s most robust endorsement yet of the invasion.

China’s lockdowns hit Xinjiang

Yining, a city in the Xinjiang region of western China, is under a grueling, weekslong pandemic lockdown. Residents say they face a lack of food and medicine, as well as a drastic shortage of sanitary pads for women.

Many of Yining’s 600,000 residents are relying mostly on neighborhood officials to deliver supplies. But it appears to be insufficient: One resident told The Times that he received food every five days, but that there was little of nutritional value — no fruit, vegetables or meat. Other residents said they just hadrice, naan or instant noodles.

People in other Chinese cities, such as Shanghai, complained loudly about similar shortages and conditions after long shutdowns. But Yining has gotten little national attention; Xinjiang is an ethnically divided region that has been under an intense crackdown aimed at Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other largely Muslim minorities.

Context: Last month, the U.N.’s human rights office said Beijing’s mass detentions of predominantly Muslim groups in Xinjiang “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

Floods threaten Pakistan’s crops

Pakistan is facing a looming food crisis after monsoon rains last week exacerbated months of record flooding, which has killed more than 1,300 people — nearly half of whom are children.

The waters have crippled the country’s agricultural sector: Nearly all of Pakistan’s crops have been damaged. So have thousands of livestock, as well as stores of wheat and fertilizer. More rain is predicted in the coming weeks.

The water could derail the upcoming planting season, leading to further insecurity at a time when global wheat supplies are already precarious. The country is one of the world’s top exporters of rice and cotton, both of which have been devastated by the floods.

Pakistan is already reeling from an economic crisis and double-digit inflation that has sent prices of basic goods soaring. The destruction could also deepen political tensions that have churned since Imran Khan was ousted as prime minister last spring.

Reaction: Officials have called the floods a climate disaster of epic proportions. Around 33 million have been displaced, and aid officials fear a second wave of deaths from food shortages and diseases transmitted by contaminated water.

What’s next: The damage from the flood will most likely be “far greater” than initial estimates of around $10 billion, according to the country’s planning minister.

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THE LATEST NEWS

• In the past month, two Taiwanese islands have been buzzed by nearly 30 unarmed Chinese drones, one of which was shot down by soldiers.
• Five speech therapists in Hong Kong who were charged with publishing “seditious” children’s books were sentenced to 19 months in prison.
• China and India appear to be moving toward a de-escalation after a two-year-old spat over a disputed border.
• North Korea has adopted a new law that authorizes a nuclear strike if the U.S. or South Korea tries to oust Kim Jong-un.
• Indonesians are protesting a government policy that has increased subsidized fuel prices. “Social unrest is imminent,” an expert told The Times.

• Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral will be on Sept. 19. Her coffin will be taken to Buckingham Palace tomorrow.
• Britain faces overlapping domestic crises and anxiety over its place in the world. But despite internal divides, people mourned together.
• Across the world, grief mixed with criticism of the monarchy, as some Commonwealth countries discussed a rupture with their former colonizer. In Australia and India, former British colonies, people met the news of the queen’s death with muted reflection.
• “Britons tend to be kind of stoic,” our London bureau chief told The Morning. “You feel it more as this sorrowful undercurrent than as this visible, dramatic display of grief.”

• Sweden held parliamentary elections yesterday. Gun violence was a top issue.
• William Ruto is expected to take power as Kenya’s fifth president tomorrow.
• The U.S. remembered the Sept. 11 attacks yesterday. President Biden promised to never forget “the precious lives stolen from us.”
• The U.N.’s annual General Assembly begins tomorrow. The organization has a new top human rights official: Volker Türk of Austria.

• Iga Swiatek of Poland won the U.S. Open women’s singles title. The men’s singles final, featuring the 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and the Norwegian Casper Ruud, began about an hour before this newsletter was sent.
• The criminalization of abortion in some U.S. states has changed how doctors treat women with complicated pregnancies.
• Climate change is threatening the olive oil capital of the world.

New York’s Hasidic leaders have denied children a basic education, a Times investigation has found. Some Yeshiva schools focus on religious instruction at the expense of English and math.

They have also benefited from $1 billion in government funding in the last four years but are unaccountable to outside oversight.

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ARTS AND IDEAS

A look back at Venice

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” a documentary directed by Laura Poitras, won the Golden Lion for best film at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. That’s quite a victory: documentaries rarely take the top prize.

The festival — which continued in-person throughout the pandemic even when other such celebrations went dark — thrived this year. Our fashion critic, Vanessa Friedman, wrote that the festival “solidified its position as the most glamorous red carpet of the year.”

Stars such as Timothée Chalamet and Ana de Armas enthralled the robust crowds, and there was no shortage of critical debate — or buzzy gossip.

The festival augurs drama and triumphs to come, Kyle Buchanan writes: “When it comes to the real kickoff for Oscar season — the mad crush of prestige films, A-list cocktail parties and awards-show buzz that churns all fall and winter — it’s the Venice Film Festival that fires the starting pistol.”

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

Add grated zucchini to your turkey burgers.

Here are 40 shows to watch this fall. The Emmy Awards begin soon after this newsletter sends, at 8 a.m. in Hong Kong or 10 a.m. in Sydney.

Siddhartha Mukherjee has written blockbuster books about cancer and genes. “The Song of the Cell” delves into what he describes as “the units that organize our life.”

She ran from her emotions. Now she relishes them.

Play today’s Mini Crossword.

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 morning after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, more Wordle players than usual tried QUEEN as their first guess.

“The Daily” is about Queen Elizabeth II.

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

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