THE REST OF THE WORLD REPORT
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
This has been one of the most consequential weeks in recent memory — Beijing, BRICS, Lebanon, the Cooper testimony, the Knesset wobble, the plane ride home. The full Special Report, Permission to Be Sick, publishes later today. This morning, a brief accounting of where things stand — and one story that got lost in the noise that deserves your attention.
WHILE THE WORLD WATCHED BEIJING, RUSSIA WAS DEMOLISHING KYIV
On Wednesday May 13, the day Donald Trump landed in Beijing to meet Xi Jinping, Russia launched what Ukraine’s air force spokesperson called “the largest strikes since the start of the full-scale invasion.” More than 1,560 drones we launched at Ukrainan poplation centers between Wednesday and Thursday. On Thursday morning, a nine-story apartment building in Kyiv’s Darnytsia neighborhood was demolished by a Russian missile. Nine people were killed. Dozens more were injured. Rescue workers pulled survivors from concrete slabs as smoke rose over the Dnieper River.
Russia switched to a daytime assault strategy in March, combining massive overnight and daytime strikes to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and extend the window of civilian exposure. The Institute for the Study of War noted the new tactic “disproportionately affects civilian districts.” Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted more than 93 percent of incoming projectiles — and the destruction was still this extensive. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha noted the timing: “At the very time when leaders of the most powerful countries are meeting in Beijing, and the world hopes for peace, predictability and cooperation, Putin launched hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles at the capital of Ukraine.” The US diplomatic bandwidth consumed by Iran has left the Ukraine peace process without an American hand on it. The Kremlin dismissed Putin’s Victory Day suggestion that the war was “heading to an end” within days — as the bombs fell.
The war in Ukraine is in its fifth year. It did not pause for Beijing.
THE WEEK IN BRIEF
Beijing: Trump left China having made “no commitment either way” on Taiwan, having deferred the $11 billion arms sale to an unscheduled phone call, and having said a war 9,500 miles away is “the last thing we need.” His Secretary of State said Trump didn’t ask Xi to help end the Iran war. Trump told Fox News Xi pledged to do exactly that. The summit produced “strategic stability,” a Boeing order smaller than the market expected, and rose seeds.
BRICS: The New Delhi Foreign Ministers’ Meeting ended without a joint communiqué — the second consecutive BRICS meeting to collapse on the Iran-UAE fault line. Iran’s FM accused the UAE of direct military involvement in the war from the floor of the meeting. India released a chair’s statement only. Full breaking note published Friday.
Lebanon: The US-brokered “ceasefire” was extended 45 days. Next talks June 2-3. Israel has killed 512 Lebanese since the ceasefire began April 17. The extension buys time. It does not buy enforcement.
CENTCOM testimony: Admiral Brad Cooper told the Senate that civilian casualties are “a particular passion” of his. He confirmed CENTCOM has one active civilian casualty investigation from 13,629 munitions fired at Iran. He said he had no way to corroborate reports of 22 schools and 17 hospitals struck — because CENTCOM had not investigated any of them. The civilian harm team was cut to one person before the war began.
Israel’s government: Netanyahu’s coalition filed a bill to dissolve the Knesset this week — triggered not by the war but by the failure to pass a military service exemption for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students. Elections could come as early as September. The prime minister conducting a multi-front war is now also managing a potential coalition collapse at home.
The Special Report — Permission to Be Sick — publishes today.
“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1789