Ukraine

• Pres. Putin explicitly linked Russia’s intensified airstrikes on at least 11 different cities in Ukraine to the bombing of the Kerch bridge, for which Russia blames Ukraine (seemingly correctly, though Ukraine hasn’t publicly claimed the operation).
• Neither the bridge bombing nor Russia’s subsequent assault of mostly civilian and infrastructure targets changed anything on the battlefield, and even China and India – who are usually hesitant to criticize Russia – were incensed enough by the strikes on civilian targets to speak out this time.
• Meanwhile, Pres. Zelensky is capitalizing on international outrage about Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian cities – which the EU called war crimes – to rally the G-7 to send Ukraine more weapons: he’ll address an emergency G-7 meeting by video today to make the request.
• The UN vote on whether to condemn Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions was delayed to later this week: perhaps Wednesday or Thursday. Russia stalled the vote by requesting a secret ballot (to dampen the isolating effect of a public poll against it) but the UN General Assembly opted to keep the vote public.

Iran

• The Economist reported that more than 185 people have died in Iran’s protests over the past 4 weeks. That number is sure to rise: protesters and riot police are reportedly engaged in intense battle in several Iranian Kurdish cities.
• Some of Iran’s oil workers joined the protests for the first time: several hundred employees at a petrochemical complex in Bushehr walked off the job and blocked roads carrying “death to the dictator” and “we stand together” signs. State media said they were merely striking over pay.

Haiti

• Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S. called on the U.S. and Canada to lead the special international force UN SecGen Guterres proposed to help the Haitian National Police loosen the grip armed gangs have on the country and protect PM Henry.
• Demonstrators in Port-au-Prince rallied against the idea of a special international force, though. Troops from the last international force in Haiti – the UN peacekeeping mission that ended in 2017 – were accused of sexual assault and probably introduced the cholera epidemic that killed almost 10,000 people. Many Haitians are also frustrated with PM Henry and his “interim” government, which was supposed to hold elections last year.

Lebanon / Israel

• Lebanon’s Pres. Aoun and Israel’s PM Lapid announced they’d reached a historic deal to demarcate the maritime border they’ve been fighting over for years (it doesn’t affect their land borders, which they’ve been fighting over for decades).
• One of the reasons they’ve been fighting over the maritime border is that its placement determines who owns two stalled offshore energy projects. Lebanon and Israel agreed to take one project each: Israel’s border will include the Karish oil and gas field – and Israel will immediately start producing and exporting from it – and Lebanon’s border will include the Qanaa project – which Total will immediately start exploring. The U.S. mediated negotiations.