Biden faces new tests on Ukraine

Biden works to maintain coalition in Ukraine as Russia escalates its attacks

The war in Ukraine is at a critical turning point as Russian President Vladimir Putin Efforts to de-escalate the conflict despite a stalled military, with Ukraine’s allies fuming over high energy prices ahead of winter and the United Nations set to vote on a draft resolution condemning Russia.

President Biden will participate in a virtual meeting of Group Seven – Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Canada and the United States – today to discuss Russia’s latest aggression and renew support for Ukraine.

Biden “is pushing hard to hold together what has become a central mission of his presidency: maintaining the global and domestic coalition that supports Ukraine. As the war heads into its first winter, perhaps a bitter and brutal, some US allies face economic headwinds fueled by the war, while at home some Republicans express skepticism about billions in aid going to Ukraine.our colleagues Jasmin Abutaleb AND John Hudson report.

• “Biden’s efforts face a major test on Wednesday when the United Nations votes on a draft resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of four parts of Ukraine. Biden and U.S. officials have worked to persuade nonaligned countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa to refrain from taking a neutral position and condemn the Kremlin, an effort analysts say could be bolstered by Russia’s barrage of missile attacks. Monday in Kiev and other big ones. Cities of Ukraine,” Yasmeen and John write.

The challenges for Biden are not only abroad: “Fissures are appearing in the political support in the country for the billions of aid that the United States is sending to Ukraine. These fissures are likely to widen significantly if Republicans retake the House of Representatives on November 8.”

• “So far, the White House has been able to maintain bipartisan support for several multibillion-dollar aid and arms packages for Ukraine, but some Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump are beginning to raise questions about why the United States is spend so much money on a war far away overseas. And a decision last week by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut oil production is likely to cause gas prices to rise again, which could further aggravate the public.

Efforts to strengthen Biden’s coalition come as Ukraine is pressing for more military support after a series of Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kiev on Monday, where at least 14 people were killed. Putin has said he was in revenge for the explosion of a key bridge.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a speech to his nation on Monday night where he said 84 missiles had hit Ukrainian cities and he assured Ukrainians “that the country was working to get modern air defense systems and strengthen its forces,” The Post reported. Praveena Somasundaram reports. “Ukraine cannot be intimidated,” he said. “We’re even more united instead.”

• Zelensky will also speak at today’s virtual G7 meeting and “Ukraine’s calls for additional military aid will also be discussed this week at two meetings in Brussels, one involving NATO defense ministers and the other the Defense Contact Group of Ukraine, a collection of about 50 countries created to provide aid to Ukraine,” The Post’s Emily Rauhala, Rick Noack, Loveday Morris AND Alex Horton report.

of New York Times‘ Valerie Hopkins AND Anton Trojanovski write: “With his escalation, Putin is also betting that Russian elites — and the public at large — see it as a sign of strength rather than a desperate attempt to inflict more pain on Ukrainian civilians in a war that Russia appears to be losing militarily.”

How Trump’s legal expenses ate up GOP donors’ money

Follow the money: “Donald TrumpThe political operation has spent more money since he left office on lawyers representing the former president and a pair of nonprofits staffed by former cabinet members than on Republican congressional campaigns,” according to peer-reviewed financial filings. ours. Isaac Stanley-Becker AND Josh Dawsey.

• “Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, has drowned out supporters the last few days with fundraising appeals focusing on next month’s high-stakes contest for control of Congress.” “It’s imperative that we ALWAYS win in November,” released an email last week.
• “The group has contributed about 8.4 million dollars so far directly in Republican campaigns and committees, while he paid $7 million to Trump’s lawyers AND Another $2 million for nonprofitswhich employ former members of his administration, including the former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Legal fees are expected to rise, Trump advisers say, as he hires a growing pool of lawyers to fend off federal, state and county investigations.
• Save America sent — $3 million — its single largest check in 20 months “for a Florida law firm representing the former president in the Justice Department’s investigation into the handling of government documents at Mar-a-Lago and its investigation into the January 6, 2021 riots aimed at keeping Trump in power.”

Ryan and Vance get into a heated argument

democratic Representative Tim Ryan and republican JD Vance aggressively attacked each other in a much-anticipated Ohio Senate campaign debate Monday night on abortion, the border and Vance’s charity.

• Vance said Ryan had supported policies that led to the rape of a 10-year-old girl in Ohio. Ryan said Vance had started a “fake non-profit” to help people overcome addiction problems. The two accused each other of being loyal to their party, with Ryan echoing a comment by former President Donald Trump calling Vance a “kisser” and Vance saying Ryan’s 100% voting record with President Biden will say he is not the sane moderate he says he is. he is,” writes Julie Carr Smyth of the Associated Press.

Twitter partisans went back and forth like professional wrestling fans in awe of the proven offensive lines they were seeing:

From The Post: “During a heated exchange at a debate Monday night, [Ryan] accused [Vance] of ‘running’ with extremists and supporting the rebels who broke into the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 … ‘You are running with Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is the absolute most depraved politician in America,” Ryan added. “This is a dangerous group.”

• The congressman also said Vance raised funds for “insurgencies.” “These people are election deniers who question the most fundamental act we have — the foundation of this country,” Ryan said. “He has questioned the presidential elections. This is a threat to our democracy.”
• Vance tried to tie the abortion and border security debates into an attack on Ryan. Vance agreed with Ryan that a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio should not have to leave the state for an abortion, but he said the fact that the suspect was in the country illegally was a failure of lax border policies. “You voted so many times against border wall funding, so many times for amnesty, Tim,” Vance said. “If you had done your job, she would never have been raped in the first place,” Smyth writes.

Ryan went after Vance’s charity, asking if it did any good or was a cynical attempt to raise his profile. Our former colleague David A. Fahrenthold recently volunteered for another news organization.

The Supreme Court is back after a weekend break and will hear two cases today:

• Reed v. Goertz: The case, which hears an appeal by Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed, focuses on the statute of limitations for DNA testing of crime scene evidence.
• National Pork Producers v. Ross: This case revolves around animal welfare and how farmers should raise their pigs. “A Supreme Court ruling in favor of pork producers could undermine states’ rights more broadly,” to Nina H. Farah of E&E News.

Russia’s nuclear weapons, visualized: “As Russia’s military retreats to the battlefield, Putin’s rhetoric about using nuclear weapons is escalating,” our colleague. Karoun Demirjian reports.

• “It is highly unlikely that Russia will use its most powerful nuclear weapons to settle accounts with Kiev; Moscow is far more likely, experts agree, to use a smaller nuclear weapon in hopes of hitting a specific battlefield target… [that] The likely candidate is the 9K720 Iskander missile system, classified by NATO as the SS-26, which is a land-based ballistic missile.

While you sleep – maybe

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