President Biden visits Ukraine, North Korea fires two more test missiles, former President Carter enters hospice.
1. President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Monday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a striking gesture of solidarity that comes days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the country. Biden spent more than five hours in the Ukrainian capital, meeting Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace, honoring the country’s fallen soldiers and meeting with U.S. embassy staff in the war-torn country.
2. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea east of the country Monday in its second test launch in three days, prompting Japan to request an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. The launches continue a tit-for-tat exchange that began Saturday, and follow a year in which North Korea launched more than 70 missiles, the most ever.
3. Dozens of well-wishers made the pilgrimage Sunday to The Carter Center in Atlanta, as prayers and memories of former President Jimmy Carter’s legacy were offered up at his small Baptist church in Plains, Georgia, a day after he entered hospice care.
4. U.S. intelligence suggests China is considering providing arms and ammunition to Russia, an involvement in the Kremlin’s war effort that would be a “serious problem,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Blinken said the United States long has been concerned that China would provide weapons to Russia. He pointed to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s promise to Russian President Vladimir Putin of a partnership with “no limits” when they met just weeks before Putin sent his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Since then, ties between the two countries have only grown stronger.
5. Nearly half of junior enlisted spouses say they have experienced food insecurity, according to results of a new survey released by the Defense Department. Overall, one out of four active duty spouses reported being food insecure, according to the results of the 2021 Survey of Active Duty Spouses. Yet 3% of spouses reported using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, formerly food stamps, in the previous 12 months.
- News