An Update on Russia/Ukraine

🇺🇦 Nearly 5.6 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the war began, per the UN, which now estimates that some 8.3 million people will end up fleeing the country in total.

• Ukraine’s military said it destroyed two Russian naval vessels in the Black Sea with drone strikes yesterday, releasing video footage of the incident.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly set to undergo cancer surgery and temporarily hand over power to a top lieutenant while he is incapacitated, according to the NY Post, which cited a video posted by the ‘mysterious’ Telegram channel “General SVR.”
• Ukraine’s digital minister said about 150,000 Ukrainians are using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service each day; NBC News last week reported there are more than 10,000 Starlink terminals providing service to Ukraine.

How the invasion is impacting…

🌍 International relations: Israel demanded an apology from Moscow yesterday after Russia’s foreign minister compared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, to Adolf Hitler, who he alleged had Jewish roots – an unproven claim asserted by Hitler’s lawyer.

💰 Economy: Moscow is preparing a stimulus package equivalent to tens of billions of dollars in an effort to soften the blow of Western sanctions and shield its populace from the economic fallout of its invasion of Ukraine.