Ukraine Is Finding It ‘Very Difficult to Advance’

After a string of notable early successes, progress has slowed in Ukraine’s counteroffensive to retake land occupied by Russian forces. For a third straight day, Ukraine did not claim to have retaken any settlements, and independent analysts say that recent Ukrainian advances in the southeast, where Kyiv began a multipronged assault last week, are better measured in yards than miles.

“It is very difficult to advance,” Hanna Malyar, a deputy Ukrainian defense minister, said. Ukraine’s forces have met fierce resistance and have suffered losses both in human casualties and in the Western tanks newly supplied to them, U.S. military officials said.

But such difficulties were expected, and any verdict on the counteroffensive’s success is extremely premature, American and Ukrainian officials said. Military history has long shown that it is much harder to take territory than to defend it. Russian lines have also been fortified over months, and many of the Western-trained brigades have yet to engage in the fight.

My colleague Andrew Kramer reported today from Blahodatne, Ukraine, one of the villages that Ukraine reclaimed in the opening days of its counteroffensive. “With each step forward, its soldiers become more vulnerable,” Andrew writes. They are “removed from the safety of their own trenches, closer to Russian artillery, maneuvering through minefields and unprotected from airstrikes.”

Justices uphold a Native American adoption law

The Supreme Court upheld a 1978 law that gives Native American tribes priority over non-Native families in the adoption of Native children. The ruling was a major victory for tribes who had argued that weakening the law would upend the basic principles that have allowed them to govern themselves.

The vote was 7 to 2, with four of the conservative justices, including Neil Gorsuch, voting with the liberals. Gorsuch, in his opinion, again demonstrated that he is the fiercest proponent of Native American rights on the court.

The court still has several more major rulings to hand out over the next couple of weeks, including on affirmative action, student loans and civil rights for gay people. Here’s what to look for.

Trump has a history of hoarding documents

The indictment accusing Donald Trump of obstructing an investigation into his possession of classified material includes a text from a Trump employee, who describes a cache of documents in the former president’s residence as “the beautiful mind paper boxes.”

My colleagues found that the phrase — a reference to the book and movie depicting the life of John Nash, the mathematician and schizophrenic — was often used during Trump’s years in the White House, and not as a compliment. Aides said he had long been something of a hoarder of papers, letters and keepsakes, a practice that has now left him in serious legal peril.

Surfside condo had construction problems

The condominium building in Surfside, Fla., that collapsed two years ago, leaving 98 people dead, had a pool deck with a “severe strength deficiency,” federal investigators found in a preliminary analysis released today. The documents suggest that investigators have been focusing on a potential failure of the pool deck that could have triggered the collapse of the residential tower.

More top news

Remembering Glenda Jackson

No one can say that Glenda Jackson, who died today at 87, lacked ambition: As a two-time Oscar winner, she walked away from a successful film and stage career in her 50s to become a member of the British Parliament, only to return to the stage at 80.

Over her decades of performances, critics were struck, above all, by her intelligence. A 1971 Times review said her “every gesture is an edgy acknowledgment that her mind is on the verge of running ahead of itself.”

A toilet plunger improved CPR

In 1988, when a 65-year-old man’s heart stopped, his wife and son, who didn’t know CPR, grabbed a toilet plunger to get his heart going until an ambulance showed up.

The man recovered, and it turns out his family was onto something. This week, researchers presented data showing that using a plunger-like setup for CPR leads to remarkably better outcomes for reviving patients. But instead of a household plunger, the researchers recommend a high-tech version, which is small enough to fit into a backpack.

Have an inventive evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

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