Ukraine Faces Deadly Wave of Russian Strikes

Welcome to today’s Morning Brief, where we’re looking at Russia’s deadly hypersonic missile strikes in Ukraine, Israel’s sweeping protests, and U.S. President Joe Biden’s meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

If you would like to receive Morning Brief in your inbox every weekday, please sign up here.

As Russian and Ukrainian forces battle for control of Bakhmut, Moscow fired more than 80 missiles into Ukraine on Thursday, marking one of its worst aerial assaults in recent weeks. 

In the latest onslaught, Russia deployed six powerful hypersonic missiles that Ukraine’s air defenses aren’t equipped to stop. The strikes killed at least six people in the regions of Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk and hit critical infrastructure, spurring power outages. On Thursday, “Russian forces conducted the largest missile strike across Ukraine of 2023 likely only to advance Russian state propaganda objectives,” said the Institute for the Study of War. 

It also severed power to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, prompting alarm and outrage from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over the increasingly precarious state of the plant. Despite being Europe’s “largest nuclear power station,” said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, it has now been forced to resort to its emergency power supply six times.

“I am astonished by the complacency—what are we doing to prevent this happening?” Grossi added. “Each time we are rolling a dice. And if we allow this to continue time after time, then one day our luck will run out.”

The spate of attacks comes as U.S. intelligence chief Avril Haines testified that she doesn’t believe Russian forces have the numbers, resources, or morale to seize significant territory this year. 

“If Russia does not initiate a mandatory mobilization and identify substantial third-party ammunition supplies, it will be increasingly challenging for them to sustain the current level of offensive operations in the coming months,” she said, adding: “We do not foresee the Russian military recovering enough this year to make major territorial gains.”

Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul proposals. Sweeping protests roiled Israel on Thursday over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial plans to constrain the Supreme Court’s authority. The protesters and critics of his proposed overhaul—including members of the Israeli military—warn that such a move would severely weaken Israel’s democratic institutions and checks and balances. 

By filling major highways and roads, the demonstrators forced Netanyahu—who had a flight to Italy—to resort to being airlifted to the airport. They also interfered with the scheduled itinerary and meeting plans of U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was in Israel on Thursday. 

Biden meets von der Leyen. U.S. President Joe Biden will host European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the White House today. They are expected to discuss the war in Ukraine and joint cooperation in climate policy, energy security, and critical supply chains—and Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act has been a key sticking point.

Friday’s meeting comes on the heels of von der Leyen’s trip to Canada, during which she and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed forging a “green alliance.” “We want to create, as an overarching topic, basically as an umbrella, a green alliance between the European Union and Canada,” she said. “It is to create good and well-paying jobs, to promote growth, to boost our energy and climate cooperation across the board.”

Abortion rights in France. French President Emmanuel Macron aims to advance legislation to incorporate abortion rights in the country’s constitution, he announced on Wednesday. “This will enshrine the freedom of women to choose abortion and be a solemn guarantee that nothing can ever limit or abolish this right because it will have become irreversible,” he said.

Migrant tragedy off Tunisian coast. At least 14 African migrants were killed when their boat submerged in the Mediterranean Sea, the Tunisian National Guard said Thursday, while 54 migrants were rescued. Authorities also intercepted 14 other boats that were transporting 435 migrants. 

• America Is Too Scared of the Multipolar World by Stephen M. Walt

• The World Isn’t Slipping Away From the West by Comfort Ero

• China Is Pushing Disengagement With the United States Hard by Covell Meyskens

To support Ukraine, Latvia has decided to ship cars impounded from drunk drivers to Ukrainian military forces and hospitals through a Latvian nongovernmental organization. Among European countries, Latvia has one of the highest rates of people who drink and drive, the BBC reported. 

“No one expected that people are drunk-driving so many vehicles,” Reinis Poznaks, the NGO’s founder, told Reuters. “They can’t sell them as fast as people are drinking. So that’s why I came with the idea—send them to Ukraine.”