Your Thursday Briefing: Russia seizes Kherson

By Melina Delkic

Writer, Briefings

Good morning. We’re covering Russian attacks ramping up and a crackdown on a New Zealand Covid protest.

Russia seizes a key city as civilian attacks intensify

Russian forces swept into the strategically important city of Kherson on Wednesday, the mayor said, in what could be a significant moment in the battle for the country’s south. Explosions struck the capital, Kyiv, and Russian troops continued to lay siege to Kharkiv. Here are the latest updates, and maps that show Russia’s advance on Kyiv.

As the situation worsens, the E.U. is expected to grant blanket protection for all Ukrainian refugees. More than 870,000 people have already fled since the Russian incursion began on Thursday, the U.N. said.

In central Kharkiv, rocket strikes hit a government building on Wednesday, and the city’s food supplies were running low. Russian forces took control of Europe’s largest nuclear energy plant, the Zaporizhzhya plant, according to the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Sanctions: Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said the U.S. would “freeze and seize” assets of Russian elites. U.K. lawmakers pressed for sanctions on Roman Abramovich, the longtime owner of Chelsea’s soccer club, who said in a statement that he had decided to sell the team.

Broader region: Eastern European countries are worried about a growing catastrophe as Putin seeks to reclaim Russia’s lost sphere of influence.

Asia: South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Australia agreed to sanctions against Moscow. But India and China are abstaining from such conversations.

Tech actions: Oracle, the software firm, said it had suspended all operations in Russia. Apple paused sales of its products in Russia and removed two Russian state news sites from the App Store.

Violence at New Zealand Covid protests

For more than three weeks, hundreds of protesters have taken over the center of Wellington, occupying the area in front of Parliament and issuing violent threats to public figures in a battle against the country’s vaccine mandates.

The police this week began an aggressive clampdown, dismantling tents, toilets, a kitchen and other camp infrastructure, and urging the demonstrators to leave. Eventually, most did — but not without a fight.

In sometimes bloody clashes, protesters wielded fire extinguishers, paint-filled projectiles, homemade plywood shields and pitchforks. Some lobbed cobblestones at officers. Others piled detritus onto gas-fueled fires, including one that caused an explosion at a playground.

At least 60 people were arrested, and three officers were taken to hospitals.

Context: The country’s highly restrictive pandemic approach appears to have alienated a small group of New Zealanders, many of whom were left without work after refusing to abide by vaccine mandates.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

• Amid a lack of isolation facilities, Hong Kong’s poor residents have been forced to choose between infecting their families with Covid or sleeping outside.
• The White House unveiled a new U.S. Covid strategy, including an initiative to pair coronavirus tests with treatment.
• The coronavirus invades cells in the penis and testicles of monkeys, researchers discovered.

Nations plan a global plastic treaty

With the bang of a gavel made of recycled plastic and a standing ovation, representatives of 175 nations agreed on Wednesday to begin writing a global treaty that would restrict the explosive growth of plastic pollution.

The agreement, made at the U.N. Environment Assembly, commits nations to work on a broad and legally binding treaty that would improve recycling, clean up plastic waste and curb plastics production. That could put measures like a ban on single-use plastics on the table. Plastics caused 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2015.

Some nations sought to narrow the plan. Japan initially submitted a competing resolution, and India urged that any action needed to be on a “voluntary basis.”

Supporters have said that a global plastics treaty would be the most important environmental accord since the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Negotiators are set to meet this year for rounds of talks to hammer out the details, hoping for a deal by 2024.

Data: By one measure, the total mass of human-made materials ever produced is now greater than the mass of all land and marine animals combined. Only 9 percent has ever been recycled, the U.N. estimated.

Background: The agreement drew heavily from a joint proposal by Peru and Rwanda, reflecting developing nations’ position at the forefront of efforts to tackle plastic pollution.

THE LATEST NEWS

• The Taliban are conducting intrusive searches, reminiscent of U.S. tactics, that risk alienating Afghans and fueling the insurgency they are trying to stop.
• The star witness in the 1MDB case of a former Goldman Sachs banker said he had “lied a lot” — including by presenting a fake divorce decree to his fiancée.
• A Japanese court will rule today on the case of a former Nissan director who is accused of helping Carlos Ghosn hide money from regulators, Reuters reported.

• In the case that led to last year’s Gaza war, Israel’s Supreme Court said that four Palestinian families could stay in their East Jerusalem homes for now.
• Venezuela’s governing Socialist Party is hiring officials who are younger, more cosmopolitan and more willing to ditch ideology for practical measures that improve people’s lives.
• Europe is turning on NGOs who came to help migrants, the organizations say.
• U.S. lawmakers want to know if Russia can use cryptocurrencies to skirt sanctions.

Over the past several years, more than 50 fertility doctors in the U.S. have been accused of fraud in connection with donating sperm. Often, that fraud was discovered only as a result of DNA tests taken by their offspring.

“When I look at the mirror, for better or worse, I see the doctor’s face,” David Berry said after learning about his paternal origins. “That’s liberating on one hand. On the other hand, it’s a tough pill to swallow, because look at what he did.”

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ARTS AND IDEAS

The ‘Euphoria’ phenomenon, explained

The HBO series “Euphoria” — a hyperstylized take on teenage life that’s full of drugs, sex and despair — aired its second-season finale on Sunday. The sophomore season cemented the show’s phenomenon status, as viewership swelled and fans turned to TikTok and Twitter to dissect each episode.

With dramatic plot twists and dreamy visuals, “Euphoria” is a show that’s built to be clipped and shared online. Fans care about the fantastical outfits and the maximalist soundtrack that zigzags from Steely Dan to Tupac, as well as the glitter-soaked makeup — so much so that the show’s head makeup artist is starting her own line.

Every generation gets a defining teen show, and “Euphoria” shares DNA with predecessors like “Skins” and “Beverly Hills, 90210,” both of which outraged parents. “Euphoria,” while still resembling a soap opera, leans into darker territory with more graphic depictions of addiction, abusive relationships, violence and nudity.

For many fans, discomfort is core to the viewing experience. “You’re just anxious for an hour straight,” one 21-year-old fan told The Times. “When you’re watching a horror movie or listening to something that’s super high-adrenaline, you keep listening because you want to know what’s going to happen. You just can’t look away.”

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

This take on the Greek dish youvarlakia avgolemono is bright yet hearty.

The novelist Kathryn Davis’s personal and time-shuffling new memoir, “Aurelia, Aurélia,” is about the death of her husband.

Stronger biceps could be just three seconds a day away.

Play the Mini Crossword, and here’s a clue: Underground molten rock (five letters).

Here’s today’s Wordle. (If you’re worried about your stats and streak, play in the browser you’ve been using.)

And here is the Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

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

P.S. Hannah Dreier of The Washington Post is joining The Times as an investigative reporter.

The latest episode of “The Daily” is about how Europe came around on Russian sanctions.

Sanam Yar wrote the Arts and Ideas section. You can reach Melina and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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