Ukraine

• Ukraine is deploying more troops to Bakhmut, and analysts are divided over why.
• Some of them think Ukraine is redoubling its efforts to hold the ruined city and keep Russian forces occupied in a prolonged battle so they can't be redeployed to other fronts; others think Ukraine is preparing to withdraw from Bakhmut and the new arrivals are only there to help evacuate remaining Ukrainian forces.
• Meanwhile, the fighting hasn't slowed in Bakhmut: Ukraine said its soldiers there repelled "over 60 enemy attacks" on Monday.

• France's Pres. Emmanuel Macron is on a four-country trip to Africa, and he's pointedly avoiding the Sahelian former colonies that have ordered France to withdraw its troops (Mali and Burkina Faso). Instead, he'll visit Gabon, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, and Congo-Kinshasa.
• Young Congolese are protesting Macron's visit to Kinshasa: they accuse Macron of backing Rwanda, which is probably supporting the M23 rebels who are destabilizing eastern DRC.

• Following meetings in Beijing, Presidents Lukashenko and Xi put out a predictably chummy statement celebrating their friendship and calling for an "early return to peace in Ukraine" - presumably under China's plan for peace, which would likely concede more to Russia than any Western-backed peace plan.

• U.S. officials announced their final assessment of the mysterious "Havana syndrome" ailments that American spies and diplomats have reported abroad: they found it "very unlikely" that a foreign adversary like Russia or China was responsible for them.
• Part of that assessment was based on intel findings that U.S. adversaries were equally confused about the ailments and thought they were part of an American misinformation campaign. It's still unclear what actually caused the headaches, dizziness, and balance impairments reported.