Ukrainians Likely Behind Kremlin Drone Attack

U.S. officials said the drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month was likely orchestrated by one of Ukraine’s special military or intelligence units, the latest in a series of covert actions against Russian targets, as the NYT reports.

Wagner Group Losses

The head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner said that 20,000 of his troops had been killed in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a months-long fight that drained Russia’s military manpower, as the WSJ reports.

UN: Sudan Conflict Displaces Over 1.3 Million

The fighting between Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary force has displaced more than 1.3 million people, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday, as the AP reports.

Executive Education

Renewing the U.S. Innovation System is a one-day executive course for insights on ongoing efforts to renew the U.S. innovation system, including the CHIPS and Science Act and its implications for business and policy decisions. This course will provide industry leaders, diplomats, and policymakers with an understanding of the pillars of the U.S. innovation ecosystem, the challenges it faces, and often instructive new initiatives of allies and competitors.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “The Recap,” “Data Unpacked,” “Testify,” “What's Happening,” “Preview,” and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!

In That Number

65 million

Chinese authorities are rushing to push out vaccines to fight an ongoing new wave of the coronavirus expected to peak in June and infect as many as 65 million people a week, as the new XBB variants of the virus evolves to overcome the immunity built up after China’s abrupt exit from its “zero covid” policy last year.

Source: The Washington Post

Critical Quote

“We are in such a condition that we could [f’ing] lose Russia—that is the main problem...We need to impose martial law.”

—Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner Group Founder

iDeas Lab

The CSIS Southeast Asia Program hosted the President of the Republic of the Philippines, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., on his first official working visit to Washington. Watch the ReCap here.

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and multimedia.

Optics

(Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images.) A man walks past a burnt-out bank branch in southern Khartoum, Sudan on May 24, 2023.

This Town Tomorrow

At 9:30 a.m., the CSIS Project on Prosperity and Development hosts Ambassador Oksana Markarova for keynote remarks and a conversation on the role of mental health in Ukraine's reconstruction.

Then, at 2:00 p.m., the CSIS Asia Program holds a conversation with Dr. Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, and Dr. Siddharth Mohandas, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, on the outlook for security in the Indo-Pacific.

Later, at 4:00 p.m., the CSIS Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program hosts author Jade McGlynn to discuss her new book, Russia's War, and Russian domestic approval for the invasion.

Video

Yesterday, the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program hosted Jigar Shah, director of the loan programs office at the U.S. Department of Energy. Watch the video here.

Podcasts

CSIS’s Ian Williams joins the podcast to discuss Russia’s use of advanced—and not-so-advanced—missiles in its war against Ukraine and how Ukrainian air defense deterrence has shaped the course of the war.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

American and worldwide icon Tina Turner passed away today. Rock and Roll wouldn’t have been the same without her.

I invite you to email me at [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz

The Evening is my daily guide to key insights CSIS brings to the events of the day. It is composed with the External Relations team: Paige Montfort, Claire Dannenbaum, and Ava Rose.