Tuesday Briefing: Russia launches a large-scale attack

August 27, 2024

	By Gaya Gupta and Justin Porter

Good morning. We’re covering a large Russian attack on Ukraine and a tussle over the upcoming U.S. presidential debate.

Plus, Ukraine’s war poetry.

A man stands in front of the rubble of a building hit by a Russian missile strike.

A building damaged by a Russian missile strike on a village in the Zaporizhzhia region. Reuters

Russia targeted Ukrainian energy in a sweeping attack

Russia launched more than 200 missiles and drones across a broad swath of Ukraine yesterday. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the assault as “one of the largest strikes” of the 30-month-old war.

The barrage damaged energy infrastructure across the country. Local authorities in Kyiv and Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, reported blackouts related to the strikes. Officials said four people were killed and more than 30 others were injured.

“Like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as vile, targeting critical civilian infrastructure,” Zelensky said in a Telegram post.

Ukrainian forces continued to try to advance their offensive in the Kursk region of Russia, which they launched three weeks ago. Zelensky said that Kyiv’s forces had taken control of two more settlements, but the claim could not be independently verified.

🇺🇸 U.S. ELECTION 2024

The presidential election is 71 days away. This is what we’re watching.

Donald Trump speaks in front of an American flag.

Donald Trump campaigning in Las Vegas last week. Roger Kisby for The New York Times

Trump suggested he might withdraw from the debate

The squabble began Sunday when Donald Trump suggested that the anchors and executives at ABC News, the host of the presidential debate scheduled for next month, were biased against him. And not for the first time, he threatened to pull out.

Then on Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign went public with its push to change the agreed-upon rules to allow both candidates mics to be live throughout the broadcast. “Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,” a spokesman told Politico.

A Trump spokesman suggested that the Harris campaign was pivoting because “they’re clearly concerned” by her debate prep so far. Trump later told reporters that it didn’t matter to him whether the microphones were muted.

The debate is scheduled for Sept. 10. Here’s the latest.

Context: One of Harris’s standout moments in her 2020 vice-presidential debate came when Mike Pence spoke over her on a live microphone, prompting her memorable line, “I’m speaking.”

Here’s what else to know:

Both candidates can both point to records of pushing poverty rates down, but their plans represent the sharpest clash in antipoverty policy in at least a generation.
Senator JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, denied that tariffs had caused higher costs for Americans, as economists have documented. He also said he believed that Trump would veto a federal abortion ban.

Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us and we’ll find the answers.

Stay up-to-date: Live coverage | Poll tracker | The “Run-Up” podcast | On Politics newsletter

Several people stood on a roadway next to the charred remains of a vehicle.

A vehicle that was burned in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan. Rahmat Khan/Associated Press

Wave of violence rattles southwestern Pakistan

At least 38 people have been killed in several assaults across Baluchistan Province in what appears to be part of a campaign by the Baluch Liberation Army, or B.L.A. The group is one of several that have demanded the region’s independence from the central government.

The attacks began with blasts that ripped through a military camp on Sunday, killing at least one soldier. Armed men stormed at least four police stations, spraying bullets at officers, local officials said. Militants also destroyed a bridge, halting traffic on a major railway. Gunmen then held up a highway, shooting and killing nearly two dozen people, officials said.

Context: Terrorism across Pakistan has surged since U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban seized power. A Taliban-led crackdown on the regional Islamic State affiliate has pushed its fighters into Pakistan.

MORE TOP NEWS

Soldiers in uniform on an obstacle course.

Chinese military cadets in Qingdao this year. Wang Zhao/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Myanmar: China will hold military drills near its border with Myanmar this week. Analysts think Beijing wants to send a message to Myanmar’s junta leaders to de-escalate the conflict there.
Middle East: Two days after Israel and Hezbollah traded major cross-border attacks, a U.S. official said that cease-fire talks would continue in Cairo in the coming days.
France: Telegram’s founder was arrested as part of an investigation into child pornography, drug sales, fraud and other criminal activities on the app, prosecutors said.
Japan: A Chinese surveillance plane breached Japanese airspace. Japan’s defense ministry said it was as the first known aerial breach by China’s military.
U.K.: English fox hunters are fighting a nearly 20-year-old ban on their sport by trying to get it protected under a discrimination law.
Climate: Meta and Google are looking at a novel solution to find power for their data centers: harnessing clean heat far below Earth’s surface.
Venezuela: A top election official said he had no proof that Nicolás Maduro, the country’s president, had won last month’s election.
Tech: The authorities in the Netherlands slapped a fine of 290 million euros on Uber for violating European data protection laws.
Canada: The government will impose 100 percent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, joining the U.S. and E.U. in protecting domestic car production.
Iceland: A tourist was killed and another was injured after an ice canyon wall collapsed during a glacier tour at Vatnajökull National Park.

U.S. Open

Coco Gauff during her first round match against Varvara Gracheva. Earl Wilson/The New York Times

Day one: Coco Gauff defeated Varvara Gracheva of France in straight sets. Follow our full coverage.
Djokovic’s luck: For the third consecutive Grand Slam event, Novak Djokovic can avoid his top two competitors, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, until the final.
Extreme heat: The hottest commodity at this year’s Open is shade.

MORNING READ

Playing badminton in Hong Kong. Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group, via Getty Images

Hong Kong’s education bureau this week warned young people about the risks of having sex. Their solution? Play badminton instead.

Lawmakers and sex educators criticized the advice as regressive and said that it reinforced gender stereotypes. Teenagers are having some fun with the idea on social media, referring to “friends with badminton” instead of “friends with benefits.”

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Found in translation: Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky are the reigning translators of Russian literature, for which they are both adored and condemned.
To boldly go: The billionaire Jared Isaacman is making his second voyage to the stars. This time, the mission will include a daring spacewalk.
Talk about chemistry: The popular chat genre of podcasts has made the generation of compelling conversation look effortless. In reality, it’s anything but.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

ARTS AND IDEAS

A group made up mostly of young women sits in a semicircle to listen to a man and a woman seated on tall chairs talk.

A poetry reading in Kyiv. Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times

Ukraine’s battle-hardened poets

“Every time you want to be wrong / About the brightness of those eyes / The eyes of those who decided one day / To die in battle / Are always brighter than others.”

Yaryna Chornohuz, a Ukrainian medic, wrote a book of battlefield verse — like the one above — in spare moments between combat by typing into her phone. This year, her book won a Shevchenko National Prize, the country’s highest arts and culture award.

Two years into the war with Russia, poets have risen in popularity in Ukraine, capturing the raw emotions of the conflict and resonating with a weary population. Sales of poetry books have soared. Some major Ukrainian publishing houses are publishing poetry for the first time, and hardly a week passes in Kyiv without a public reading. Read more about Ukraine’s war poetry.

RECOMMENDATIONS

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Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Greg Lofts.

Cook: A simple yet luscious peanut sauce brings together smashed cucumbers and dumplings for an easy weeknight meal.

Style: Our chief fashion critic, Vanessa Friedman, weighs on the right balance between casual and formal attire.

Plan: What’s the best way to explore Kenya? Join a local hiking club.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Gaya & Justin

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