Ukraine Update…232 days into the Russian move on the Ukraine…

Russia apparently intends to raise at the U.N. Security Council its unfounded accusation that Ukraine is planning to use a “dirty bomb” — an explosive weapon designed to scatter radioactive material — on its own soil. Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya, in a letter to the council that was seen by Reuters, urged Western nations “to exert their influence” on Kyiv to prevent what he called a potential “act of nuclear terrorism.” The United States and other Western powers have dismissed Russia’s claim as “transparently false.”

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

• Griner appeared in court via video link from detention outside Moscow on Tuesday. Her lawyers asked for a suspended sentence, while Russian prosecutors maintained that nine years is fair. Griner’s lawyers earlier said she wasn’t expecting “miracles.”
• Russia would face “consequences” if it used a dirty bomb in Ukraine, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Monday. The United States, France and Britain accused Moscow of using allegations of a dirty bomb as a pretext for escalation. “It would certainly be another example of [Russian President Vladimir Putin’s] brutality if he were to use a so-called dirty bomb,” Price said. “There would be consequences for Russia.”
• The U.N. nuclear watchdog is preparing to visit two sites linked to the nuclear industry at Kyiv’s request.Russian state media, citing an official, claimed without evidence that Ukraine was using the locations in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk to prepare the bomb. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said his group inspected one of those locations a month ago and that “no undeclared nuclear activities or material were found there.”
• Germany and the European Union hosted a conference on the massive task of reconstruction that lies ahead for Ukraine. But with fighting still raging and the bloc behind on some of the money it has already pledged, expectations for the event were not particularly high. At the conference, Zelensky said that Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are making “it harder for us to survive this winter.”

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said “Iran is making a big mistake” in supplying Russia with drones for its war in Ukraine —a charge Tehran denies.Pelosi made the remark at a summit organized by Ukraine to discuss the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the summit in his nightly address as “another step in our preparation for the de-occupation of Crimea.”
• Russia has lost over a quarter of its fleet of attack helicopters in the war, Britain’s Defense Ministry said. At least 23 of the Russian Air Force’s operational Ka-52 HOKUM attack helicopters have been verified as lost in Ukraine since February, it said. Ka-52s are “one of the few options available” to Russian commanders “to provide close support for troops in combat,” according to the ministry’s intelligence briefing, but it comes with a high risk of “attrition from Ukrainian man-portable air defence systems.” Overall, the ministry said, “Russia is still failing to maintain adequate air superiority” in Ukraine.
• Russian state media and officials reported that a car bomb exploded outside the offices of Russian broadcaster ZaTV in the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, which Russia captured soon after its invasion. It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the attack, but occupation authorities said that five people were injured. Unverified photos and images from the scene showed severe damage to the building, including blown-out windows and debris on fire.
• Ukraine’s intelligence chief said there is no evidence that Russian troops are readying for a mass withdrawal from Kherson, a strategic southern port city occupied in the early days of the conflict, despite a push by Moscow-backed officials to get residents to leave. Gen. Kyrylo O. Budanov said in an interview with the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda that Moscow is “trying to create the illusion that everything is lost,” while preparing to defend the city in street-by-street combat…..

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Here’s what we know:

Griner, an American basketball star convicted in Russia on drug charges, is expected to be sent to a penal colony after her appeal was rejected.

• The ruling adds to pressure on the U.S. to negotiate Griner’s release.

• Griner is being sent to a Russian penal colony. What is that?

• The State Dept. warns that ‘dirty bomb’ claims could be a pretext for Russian escalation.

• In a stretch of southern Ukraine, the Russians have left, but their bombs remain.

• Germany steps up efforts to support Ukraine and patch up relations.

• House progressives urge the Biden administration to engage in direct talks with Russia…..

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