Russia stops sharing information on missile drills with US

The Russian military conducted drills of its intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, forces on Wednesday. On the same day, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the country will stop giving notices to the United States about missile tests. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended the New START Treaty, which limits how many deployed ICBMs the U.S. and Russia can have. As part of Wednesday’s drills, Russia’s nuclear-capable Yars mobile missile launchers will try to maneuver across three regions of Siberia without being detected by foreign satellites, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

What’s happening in Ukraine? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Tuesday that the battle for the city of Bakhmut is pivotal to the outcome of the war. Russia has been trying to take Bakhmut for seven months. A loss for Ukraine, though likely not tactically fatal, could give Putin leverage for a peace deal unacceptable to Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. 

Dig deeper: Listen to Jill Nelson and Mary Reichard’s discussion on The World and Everything In It podcast about the International Criminal Court’s recent decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin.