President Volodymyr Zelensky urges mass evacuations.
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Good morning. We’re covering a call to evacuate eastern Ukraine and speculation that Nancy Pelosi could visit Taiwan.
Zelensky urges a mass evacuation
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, urged civilians in the eastern Donbas region to evacuate. The more people leave the Donetsk region now, he said, “the fewer people the Russian Army will have time to kill.”
His statement is the first time the Ukrainian government has issued such a broad evacuation order. By doing so before winter, Kyiv sought to give people time to move — and to prevent an unmanageable crisis later. Russian bombardment has destroyed key infrastructure needed to deliver heat and electricity.
Zelensky’s comments followed the killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war in an explosion on Thursday at a detention facility in the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk. At least 50 prisoners were killed. Many of them had surrendered after the Russian siege of the Mariupol steelworks and were considered national heroes in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for the explosion, with the Ukrainian authorities calling for an international investigation. Russia said yesterday that it would allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the site, but the organization said it had still not been granted access, adding that this was an obligation under international law.
Context: The Russians control around 60 percent of Donetsk, and Ukrainian officials have warned that Moscow will step up efforts to take the rest of the region, as it moves ahead with plans to annex much of Ukraine.
Analysis: Ukrainians have stabilized eastern defensive lines, and Moscow has failed to make significant advances in weeks. But Russian strikes continue to kill civilians daily, and hundreds of thousands still live in Donetsk.
Nancy Pelosi may soon visit Taiwan
Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. House speaker, has embarked on a closely watched tour of several Asian countries.
Biden administration officials said they expected her trip to include a stop in Taiwan, which would be the highest-level visit by an American official in 25 years. But Pelosi has not said whether she will go to the self-governing island. Military: In the past year, China’s military planes have increasingly probed Taiwan’s airspace. In June, Beijing raised the stakes by declaring jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait. And on Saturday, China’s military said it would conduct drills with live ammunition off Fujian Province, about 80 miles from Taiwan.