Your Friday Briefing: Russa plans to annex land in Ukraine

By Jonathan Wolfe

Good morning. We’re covering Russia’s ceremony to illegally annex Ukrainian regions and the destruction from Hurricane Ian in Florida.

Russia prepares a land grab in Ukraine

The Kremlin announced that it would hold a ceremony today to begin absorbing four Ukrainian territories, pressing ahead with a widely condemned annexation effort.

In Moscow, authorities put up billboards and a giant video screen in Red Square. President Vladimir Putin will deliver a speech during the ceremony at the Kremlin. State media described the event as a rally and concert “in support of the outcome of the referendums,” in which some people in Ukraine were made to vote at gunpoint.

The annexation move has been greeted with international condemnation, and Ukraine has essentially ignored the Kremlin’s plans. Russian officials have spoken of defending their claims to the annexed territory by any means, a hint at the potential use of nuclear weapons.

Context: Even though Russia has failed to fully control the four territories it seeks to annex, and even as Ukrainian forces are gaining ground in some of those areas, the Kremlin’s show was designed to present a sheen of legitimacy to its illegal takeover.

The front lines: Ukrainian forces are closing in on the city of Lyman, a Russian-occupied rail hub. Capturing Lyman would leave Moscow’s troops in an increasingly perilous position in Ukraine’s east.

More war news:

• Putin acknowledged “mistakes” in the draft, as the Kremlin tried to keep public discontent in check.
• Finland barred Russians from entering as tourists, closing off the last land route into the European Union for people fleeing the draft.
• The Pentagon plans to set up a new command arm to Ukraine in Germany to streamline training and assistance.

• NATO said that the Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged and pledged to respond to any attack against the critical infrastructure of alliance members.
• Recordings of phone calls from Russian soldiers speaking to relatives at home reveal damning insider accounts of battlefield failures.

Hurricane Ian’s ‘historic’ damage in Florida

Hurricane Ian battered Florida yesterday, straining emergency services and complicating rescue efforts to reach residents who were stranded in record-high floodwaters. More than 2.5 million customers were without power across the state, and forecasters warned of “life-threatening catastrophic flooding” in parts of Central Florida.

While the toll was still being assessed, President Biden said there were “early reports of what may be substantial loss of life.” Biden declared the storm a major disaster, ordering federal aid to help with recovery. Here’s where the hurricane hit hardest.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the damage from Ian was “historic.” “You’re looking at a storm that has changed the character of a significant part of our state,” he said. He predicted that rebuilding could take years.

What’s next: The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm, as it pushed into the Atlantic Ocean, and was expected to regain strength and make landfall again as a hurricane today in South Carolina. We have live updates here.

Myanmar sentences Australian adviser to prison

Sean Turnell, an economic adviser to Myanmar’s imprisoned civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was convicted yesterday of violating an official secrets act and of visa violations. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

Turnell, 57, was arrested in Myanmar five days after the military seized power in a coup last year, setting off months of demonstrations and widespread killing. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and has remained in prison since February 2021, unable to meet with his lawyer or representatives of the Australian embassy.

Context: Turnell is now among more than 15,000 political prisoners arrested since the coup, according to an international monitoring group. Aung San Suu Kyi received the same sentence for violating the official secrets act, the latest in a series of convictions that already has her serving 20 years in prison.

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THE LATEST NEWS

• North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles yesterday — its third missile test this week — as Vice President Kamala Harris warned the country against “destabilizing” weapons activities.
• China’s Covid propaganda has led some citizens to argue that the language has bordered on “nonsense.”
• Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, a hero of the independence movement in East Timor, was disciplined by the Vatican in 2020 based on allegations that he had raped and abused teenage boys decades ago.

• Four days before national elections in Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro’s political party claimed, without evidence, that government employees could alter ballots.
• The Rwanda genocide tribunal’s most wanted man, Félicien Kabuga, is finally facing trial after being on the run for 23 years.
• The watchdog group Global Witness named Mexico the deadliest country for environmental activists.

• Inflation in Germany hit double digits for the first time in decades.
• The International Monetary Fund and economists have warned that the new British government’s plan to slash taxes on high earners could exacerbate rapid inflation and destabilize markets.
• Despite Iran’s attempts to block the internet, growing outrage online has helped fuel waves of protest.

Wittenoom, a town in Australia’s outback, was ruined by asbestos mining. The government has been trying to close down Wittenoom for over a decade and is now close to reaching that goal. But first, it has to remove those who want to stay.

Lives lived: Maria Orosa, a Filipino nationalist and innovative food scientist who invented banana ketchup, sought to reduce the Philippines’ dependence on imported food.

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SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICA

Zambia’s honeymoon

In a pessimistic global economic climate, Zambia seems to be the exception.

Last year, the southern African nation elected Hakainde Hichilema, a wealthy businessman and political outsider, as president. Since then, many Zambians have hailed their new leader as a miracle worker.

Before the election, Zambia defaulted on its debts, and inflation was skyrocketing. Now, inflation has dropped to single digits, and the country’s currency, the kwacha, is one of the best performing in the world.

“I felt a lingering sense of relief in my travels in Zambia,” said Ruth Maclean, The Times’s West Africa bureau chief. Ruth recently met with Hichilema at his home in Lusaka, the capital. As an opposition leader, he was detained 15 times and ran for president five times. Many Zambians relate to his poor upbringing in a grass-thatched hut, and African leaders see in him a new model of leadership.

“He had a sort of steely, steady confidence that I can imagine might be very reassuring to countries and companies with which Zambia does business,” Ruth said.

But Zambia’s honeymoon phase may not last. To overhaul the economy, Hichilema struck a deal with the International Monetary Fund that would include the reduction of fuel and agricultural subsidies. Economists say that such policies will hurt the poor and test Hichilema’s vision.

“Zambia is the guinea pig of the moment,” Ruth said. “Watch this space.”

— Lynsey Chutel, briefings writer based in Johannesburg

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

The trick to this recipe for curried swordfish with tomatoes and greens is to sear the fish, then steam it with the moisture that comes from braising the vegetables.

“Confidence Man,” Maggie Haberman’s biography of Donald Trump, argues that in order to understand the former president, it’s essential to grasp New York’s steamy, histrionic folkways.

Disney’s “Hocus Pocus 2” manages to capture the same hokey magic of the original while creatively updating its humor.

Play the Mini Crossword, and a clue: Paintings and such (3 letters).

Here are the Wordle and the Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next time. — Jonathan

P.S. The 111th annual campaign of The Neediest Cases Fund has begun.

The latest episode of “The Daily” is a conversation with a man who fled Putin’s draft.

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

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