News
Russian forces launched missile attacks on the western city of Lviv and pounded other targets across Ukraine on Monday in an intensified bid to wear down the country’s defenses ahead of an all-out assault on the east.
At least seven people were reported killed in Lviv, where plumes of thick black smoke rose over a city that had become a relative haven for people fleeing intense fighting farther east during almost two months of war.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, meanwhile, vowed to “fight absolutely to the end” in strategically vital Mariupol, where the last known pocket of resistance in the seven-week siege consisted of Ukrainian fighters holed up in a sprawling steel plant laced with tunnels. The holdouts ignored a surrender-or-die ultimatum from the Russians on Sunday.
Ukraine’s military took a defiant stand this weekend — refusing to give in to Russia’s demand for Kyiv’s troops in the port city of Mariupol to surrender — at the same time that President Joe Biden and his allies face a new precipice in deciding how far the US can go in arming the embattled country, as Russia signals that it may take more aggressive action to stop the flow of weapons from the US and NATO.
There are new worries about how quickly Ukraine could run out of ammunition as heavier fighting intensifies in the Donbas where Russia is trying to encircle and cut off Ukrainian forces in their quest to control that region. And officials in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv have reported that seven people were killed and 11 were injured in Russian missile strikes Monday, citing preliminary figures that may still rise.
As he tries to keep the pressure on allies to lend greater support in this next phase, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is arguing that the West must view that fight as a critical pivot point in curbing the unbridled ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and demonstrating the West’s commitment to defending democracy against a voracious autocratic power.
Ukraine has completed a questionnaire which will form a starting point for the European Union to decide on membership for Kyiv, Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen handed the questionnaire to Zelenskiy during her visit to Kyiv on April 8th, pledging a speedier start to Ukraine’s bid to become a member of the EU following Russia’s invasion of the country.
“Today, I can say that the document has been completed by the Ukrainian side,” Zhovkva told the Ukrainian public broadcaster Sunday evening. The European Commission will need to issue a recommendation on Ukraine’s compliance with the necessary membership criteria, he added.
A Mitch McConnell-aligned super PAC is booking $141 million in fall advertisements to help turn the Senate red, a staggering sum that sets the stage for a vicious battle over the chamber’s control.
The GOP-controlled Senate Leadership Fund is reserving eight-figure ad flights starting in September to protect Republican seats in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as to take Democratic-held seats in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, the group told POLITICO. SLF also laid down millions in Alaska to protect incumbent Lisa Murkowski from a Donald Trump-inspired primary challenge.
Those GOP plans follow the Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC’s moves to set aside $106 million in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania, with most of those ads beginning in August.
Senate Democrats face strong political headwinds in this year’s midterm elections, but they have maintained — and in some cases, super-charged — their fundraising in pivotal states, new campaign finance reports show.
The filings, which cover the first three months of 2022, further exemplify a campaign cycle awash in money — with energized small donors, billionaires and a cadre of self-financed candidates already powering mammoth spending.
The stakes are high: Control of the US Senate and House of Representatives is up for grabs this fall, along with the ability to shape President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda for the remainder of his first term.
CNN, – April 18, 2022
Donbas, a sprawling and beleaguered heartland region that blankets much of eastern Ukraine, has been the front line of the country’s conflict with Russia since 2014.
But now its people, already scarred by eight years of fighting, are bracing for an assault even more intense. An impending battle for control of the territory is expected to define Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, after his forces suffered costly failures in Kyiv, and across central and northern Ukraine.
Satellite images have shown Russian military convoys and resupplied units moving towards Donbas for a large-scale offensive, and Ukraine’s foreign minister has warned the world of an impending battle there that will “remind you of the Second World War.”
April 18, 2022 – 2:00 pm (ET)
Twenty-five states will elect their chief election officers this November — a slate of contests already drawing outsize attention, money and competition as former President Donald Trump continues undermining the results of the last national election.
The jobs vary from state to state. But many secretaries of State (and a handful of other posts with similar job descriptions) play a role in certifying election results, along with setting policies that govern election procedures in states including a number of closely divided presidential battlegrounds.
