Tuesday Briefing

Inside Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russia

A Times investigation found evidence that at least three different Ukrainian-made drone models had been used in attacks inside Russia, including Moscow, indicating a Ukrainian role in strikes that Kyiv has denied carrying out or declined to claim responsibility for. Ukraine is racing to scale up its drone fleet, and to attack more frequently in Russia.

“Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia — to its symbolic centers and military bases,” Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said on Sunday night. “And this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.”

As Ukraine steps up its strikes, it is also making plain the nature of its targets: military-aligned sites that aid Moscow’s full-scale invasion, now in its 18th month. Kyiv’s mostly small-scale strikes into Russia, however, pale in comparison to the devastation Moscow has rained on Ukraine.

The latest: Kryvyi Rih, Zelensky’s hometown, was attacked hours after he spoke of bringing the war to Russia. At least six people were killed.

For more:

• A recording purportedly of the Wagner group’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who staged a short-lived mutiny in Russia last month, appeared to signal that the mercenary force would continue operations but on a smaller scale.

• Saudi Arabia will host talks on Ukraine’s peace plan this weekend in the city of Jeddah, diplomats in the kingdom have said.

Trump’s effort to short-circuit Georgia election case fails

A Georgia judge forcefully rejected an effort by Donald Trump to derail an investigation into attempts by him and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, saying that the former president did not have the legal standing to make such challenges before indictments were handed up.

The Georgia investigation is part of a swirl of legal troubles surrounding Trump, who has already been indicted on state charges in New York connected with hush-money payments in 2016, and on federal charges over his handling of classified documents after leaving office. A federal investigation into wider efforts to reverse his defeat in the 2020 election is ongoing.

Related: Trump is dominating the Republican primary field, the first Times/Siena College poll of the 2024 race shows.

Brutality increases in Myanmar

The Myanmar military’s campaign of terror, which began after a coup sparked widespread resistance, is getting worse, a Times investigation found. There were nearly twice as many military airstrikes reported in April, May and June as in the first three months of the year.

The opposition and its allied forces currently control large swaths of the country. As they have gained ground, the military has resorted to increasing air attacks — many of which have hit civilians.

Context: The military is trying to punish civilians for any perceived support of the opposition, one expert said. Since the coup in February 2021, the military and its allies have killed at least 3,452 people, according to the U.N.

THE LATEST NEWS

Around the World

• A state-led spending boom in Russia has helped to maintain popular support for President Vladimir Putin’s war, but it has concerned some economists.

• At least five people have been killed in three days of clashes at a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

• Meet Yariv Levin, Israel’s justice minister and the main architect of the Israeli government’s effort to reduce judicial power.

• A mysterious object found on an Australian beach probably came from an Indian rocket, Australia’s space agency said.

Other Big Stories

• In a signal of support for the oil and gas industry, the British government said it would issue new licenses for energy exploration in the North Sea.

• China unveiled a long list of measures meant to stimulate consumer spending. But some economists are skeptical of the plans.

• The Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for the bombing near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan on Sunday. At least 54 people died in the attack.

• Austria is still buying nearly as much natural gas from Russia as it was before the war in Ukraine, drawing complaints from its neighbors.

A Morning Read

With mountains to the east and an ocean to the west, and air that hums with lavender and eucalyptus, Montecito is that rare place that looks even better in real life than it does online.

No wonder, then, that this not-even-10 square miles of a not-even-town in California is home to Oprah Winfrey, the self-exiled Duke and Duchess of Sussex, a celebrity juicer, Katy Perry’s dad — and the New American Dream.

Lives Lived

Paul Reubens, the comic actor who created Pee-wee Herman, has died at 70.

SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC

Belgian Grand Prix takeaways: Ferrari questions, Alpine tumult and a welcome break.

Vivianne Miedema on World Cup injuries: Our guest columnist writes about what needs to change.

2.Bundesliga returns: The whimsical chaos is back — time to enjoy the ride.

Women’s World Cup: Australia beat Canada, 4-0, Japan beat Spain and Colombia beat Germany. The U.S. plays Portugal at 3 a.m. Eastern today (8 a.m. in London). It needs to win or tie to advance.

QUIZ BOWL

Lit trivia

The five phrases below are final lines from popular novels published in the second half of the 20th century. Can you guess where they come from? Check your answers here.

1. “Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?”

2. “Are there any questions?”

3. “I don’t know why mine never turn out like hers, or why my tears flow so freely when I prepare them — perhaps I am as sensitive to onions as Tita, my great-aunt, who will go on living as long as there is someone who cooks her recipes.”

4. “Afterwards the sisters returned to their respective homes and Shama and the children went back in the Prefect to the empty house.”

5. “When he came back to, he was flat on his back on the beach in the freezing sand, and it was raining out of a low sky, and the tide was way out.”

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

This salad is summer in a bowl.

What to Watch

Italy has fallen for “Mare Fuori,” a steamy TV melodrama set in a juvenile detention center.

Work Life

Want to quit your job? Try these things first.

Now Time to Play

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Artist Warhol (four letters).

And here are today’s Wordle and the Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. Thanks for joining me. — Natasha

P.S. Test your memory of last week’s headlines.

You can reach Natasha and the team at [email protected].