Monday Briefing: Devastation in Myanmar
Good morning. We’re covering earthquake devastation in Myanmar and new information about U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine. Plus, skateboarders in the sky.
Aftershocks and airstrikes struck MyanmarMore than 1,600 people were confirmed dead across Myanmar over the weekend, and more than 3,000 were injured in the worst earthquake to hit the country in over a century. Here is a map of the damage, and images from the region. An aftershock yesterday struck Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, near the epicenter of the initial quake, toppling several buildings that had previously survived. Many fear for the missing, whose chances drop sharply after this evening, when a crucial 72-hour survival window closes. Amid the natural destruction, the governing military junta over the weekend continued a brutal bombing campaign. A long-running civil war has ravaged the country, leaving nearly 20 million people in need of shelter and food even before the quake, according to the U.N. Power: Experts say the earthquake could change the trajectory of the civil war. The Arakan Army, a powerful rebel group, has won control of large parts of Rakhine State. It could exploit this moment to take the south of the country from the military. Aid: Support from other countries is arriving, but doubts remained about how the Myanmar Army would distribute the much-needed relief. “They have a long track record of using aid as a weapon,” said Scot Marciel, the U.S. ambassador to Myanmar from 2016 to 2020. Thailand: The earthquake sent one building in Bangkok crashing to the ground, killing at least 11 people.
The secret history of the war in UkraineAfter Russia’s armies crossed into Ukraine in 2022, two Ukrainian generals traveled in secret to a U.S. military facility in Germany. There, they sealed a partnership that brought America into the war far more intimately than previously known. That deal, known only to a small group of officials, became part of what the Biden administration framed as its effort to both rescue Ukraine and protect the post-World War II order in the West. It also enabled Ukrainians to survive three long years of fighting against a far larger, vastly more powerful enemy. Now, as President Trump begins to undo elements of this agreement, here is the untold story of America’s hidden role in the military operations against Russia’s invading armies. And if you’re pressed for time, we have the main takeaways here. |
