Ukrainian Forces Push Forward

Ukrainian officials said their armed forces are pressing forward against Russian military units around Kyiv, seeking to exploit Moscow’s efforts to regroup, as the WSJ reports.

Russia Repositioning

Despite Russian statements that it would radically reduce its military activity around Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, to concentrate on the war in eastern Ukraine, Western governments see little evidence of that, but rather, a Russian repositioning, as the NYT reports.

Biden Will Release From Strategic Petroleum Reserve

President Biden on Thursday announced that he will release 1 million barrels a day from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try to offset the loss of Russian crude oil from world markets, starve Russia of revenue and cut the cost American consumers are paying. The release is the biggest withdrawal in the reserve’s more than 46-year history, as the Washington Post reports.

Executive Education

Inside DOD's FY 2023 Budget, a CSIS executive education course, offers key insights from CSIS experts and practitioners on what the Biden administration's FY 2023 budget and strategy documents reveal about strategic priorities, major budget movements, force structure adds and cuts, and acquisition program changes.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS's YouTube Channel for the latest releases in our “Crisis Crossroads: Ukraine” video series.

In That Number

134,500

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree ordering 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of Russia's annual spring draft, but the defense ministry said the call-up had nothing to do with the war in Ukraine.

Source: Reuters

Critical Quote

“According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning.”

— Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General

iDeas Lab

Strategic foresight is a tool that enables us think more comprehensively about the future and prepare for challenges that arise. Learn more in a new video from CSIS.

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: Chris McGrath/Getty Images.) Members of the Ukrainian military take a photograph at the wreckage of a downed Russian helicopter on March 31, 2022 in Malaya Rohan, Ukraine.

This Town Tomorrow

At 10:00 a.m., join the CSIS Strategic Technologies Program for a discussion on the applications of artificial intelligence for healthcare.

And, at 8:00 a.m., the Atlantic Council holds an event on the latest developments in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Then, at noon, the Cato Institute holds an event to discuss the 2021 Arms Sales Risk Index and current efforts to weigh and mitigate risks that the sale of U.S. weapons can pose.

Video

Today, CSIS hosted a discussion on the findings of a report from the Multilateral Cyber Action Committee (MCAC), which provides recommendations to mitigate the cybersecurity concerns posed by technology decoupling.

Podcasts

This week, CSIS’s Seth G. Jones joins the podcast to discuss Putin’s battlefield missteps, Russia’s path going forward, how Ukraine can continue to defend itself, and what the U.S. can do to support Ukraine.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

Earlier this week, I mentioned Sly and the Family Stone in the context of Funk history. The Funk continuum landed squarely in the mid-1980s with the grooves of the Talking Heads who were heavily influenced by George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic.

The landmark 1984 concert film “Stop Making Sense” displayed the Heads delivering a funky assault on popular music. The original four members of the band singer David Byrne, bassist Tina Weymouth, drummer Chris Frantz, and keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison were joined onstage by Funkadelic’s keyboardist Bernie Worrell and the Brothers Johnson guitarist Alex Weir. The resulting sound and video that director Jonathan Demme captured proved to be an instant classic in which documented the Heads updating their standards with a sped-up, reorganized sonic architecture. Check out Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison on this track—they are in another dimension.

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: Kendal Gee, Paige Montfort, and Christopher Healey.