Your Friday Briefing: Ukraine’s slow progress

Good morning. We’re covering Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Also, the changing nature of cricket.

Ukraine’s ‘very difficult fight’

For a third straight day, Ukraine did not claim to have retaken any settlements in its counteroffensive, but said its forces were attacking Russian defenses in many areas along the front line.

Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels that Ukraine was making steady progress, even if there were no rapid gains.

“This is a very difficult fight,” he said. “It’s a very violent fight, and it will likely take a considerable amount of time at a high cost.”

Ukraine has notched successes in the first week and a half of its counteroffensive to drive Russian forces from southern Ukraine. It has yet to commit the bulk of its reserves, including troops trained in Europe and equipped with weaponry from NATO countries, meaning it can bring still more force to bear.

But with each step forward, Ukraine’s soldiers become more exposed to Russian firepower, Andrew Kramer, our Kyiv bureau chief, reports from a village in the south recently retaken by the Ukrainians.

More weapons: NATO allies vowed to keep up their support for Ukraine indefinitely. Denmark and the Netherlands are organizing training for Ukrainian pilots to fly American-made F-16s, but it will be months before the pilots are ready.

Other news:

• The top U.N. nuclear official visited the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to assess its safety.
• Australia blocked Russia from building a new embassy near its Parliament over national security concerns.

Accused Chinese agents on trial in the U.S.

An American private detective and two Chinese citizens are accused of playing crucial roles in Operation Fox Hunt, a global effort by China to control its diaspora, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The case in New York City is the first federal trial in the U.S. related to Operation Fox Hunt. Beijing has set up dozens of police outposts around the world as part of this operation, including in Japan, Britain, the Netherlands and France, according to state media accounts and public statements published in China.

The three men are accused of stalking and harassing Xu Jin, who was once a Chinese official, and his family in suburban New Jersey starting in late 2016. Lawyers for the three men contend that their clients were unaware that the effort to find Xu was being directed by Beijing.

China has played down the role of the police outposts, but our colleague Karen Zraick, who covered the trial, told us that the prosecution painted a very different picture: “Beijing went to very elaborate lengths to surveil people that it considered fugitives, the prosecutors said, even flying in government officials to direct day-to-day activities,” she said.

What’s next: The jury is considering the case after a two-week trial. The three men face counts including acting as a foreign agent without notifying the attorney general and conspiring to do so, as well as interstate stalking.

Inquiry in Thailand targets leading political candidate

Thailand’s Election Commission is investigating Pita Limjaroenrat, whose party won the most seats last month, to determine if he violated election rules, which means he could be disqualified from becoming prime minister. Activists say the case is part of a broader effort to roll back the results of the vote and further erode democracy in Thailand.

The elections in May delivered a stinging rebuke to the military junta that has ruled Thailand for nearly a decade and handed Pita’s Move Forward Party a decisive victory, but his fate as an elected leader remains unclear.

The investigation, announced last week, centers on Pita’s shares of iTV, which was once a media company and is now focused on advertising. Thai law prohibits parliamentary candidates from owning media shares; Pita said he inherited them from his father. If he is found guilty, Pita could face up to 10 years in prison and a 20-year ban on voting.

What’s next: A Senate committee on Tuesday will review the order to investigate him and the case could go to the Constitutional Court if lawmakers refuse to back Pita’s bid for prime minister.

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THE LATEST NEWS

• A report concluded that Boris Johnson deliberately misled British lawmakers over Covid-19 lockdown parties. He resigned from Parliament last week after seeing an early version of the report.
• Cyclone Biparjoy moved ashore in India’s western state of Gujarat. At least three people have died and tens of thousands of people in India and Pakistan have been evacuated. We’re tracking the storm here.
• North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles, its first missile test in two months, as the U.S. and South Korean militaries conducted a joint live-fire exercise.
• The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law aimed at keeping Native American adoptees with their tribes.

• The U.S. has been negotiating quietly with Iran to try to limit the country’s nuclear program and free Americans imprisoned there.
• Some of China’s most entrepreneurial brands have taken steps to distance themselves from their home country, including moving their headquarters abroad.
• The European Central Bank raised interest rates to the highest level since 2001 as it tries to bring down inflation.

• Kenya is charging the survivors of a starvation cult with attempted suicide. Some are still refusing to eat.

• A morgue manager at Harvard Medical School sold body parts from donated cadavers and let buyers choose which parts they wanted, prosecutors say.

• Curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art are teaching military officers to save Ukraine’s art. 

• The scandal-plagued Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which built the Golden Globe Awards into a marquee event, is shutting down. But the awards show will continue.

• Dad influencers are finding big audiences on social media.

The number of Bangladeshis in New York City has nearly tripled over the last decade to more than 100,000. A photographer spent more than two years in “Little Bangladesh” in Brooklyn, which has become a beacon for newcomers to find apartments, jobs and friends.

See his photos, and learn about how people there embrace tradition while adapting to new trends.

Lives lived: Glenda Jackson won two Oscars and then became a member of the British Parliament. She died at 87.

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ARTS AND IDEAS

Test cricket’s last stand

The Ashes series, a century-old rivalry between England and Australia, is the most venerable showcase for a version of cricket that is losing ground to faster, richer rivals.

The series, which begins today in England, consists of five so-called Test matches, each of which lasts for up to five days, a contest of skill and endurance that is considered to be cricket at its purest and highest level.

The problem is: Most of the world doesn’t seem to have time for it anymore. The lucrative Indian Premier League, for instance, plays Twenty20 cricket — a much faster and increasingly more popular three-hour version of the game. And the league isn’t alone among major organizations in the sport that have shifted focus. That’s causing consternation among the establishment, who fear it could change the game for good.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

Shrimp fried rice is among the recipes to try if you’re celebrating Father’s Day on Sunday.

In “Blue Jean,” a closeted lesbian teacher confronts British homophobia in the 1980s.

Here’s how to stay calm during a bumpy flight.

Play the Mini Crossword, and a clue: Heavy burden (four letters).

Here are the Wordle and the Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. We hope you have a lovely weekend! — Amelia and Justin

P.S. Judson Jones, a member of The Times’s Weather Data team, wrote about tracking global weather patterns.

“The Daily” is about a merger in professional golf.

Let us know what you think about this newsletter. You can reach us at briefing@nytimes.com.

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