memeorandum: The Pandemic Interpreter … Approximately 5 million people start their day with David Leonhardt … (Sam Adler-Bell/New York Magazine)

12:45 PM ET, February 24, 2022

Top Items:

Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russia launches attacks across Ukraine; Biden vows ‘consequences’ — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared martial law as explosions were heard throughout the country and Russian forces targeted the capital.

The White House:

Statement by President Biden on Russia's Unprovoked and Unjustified Attack on Ukraine — The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. President Putin has chosen a premeditated war …

Associated Press:

The Latest: UN chief warns Russian actions could devastate — The latest on the Russia-Ukraine crisis: — ___ — UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says Russia's attack on Ukraine — as he appealed for President Vladimir Putin to stop his troops — was “the saddest moment” of his five-year tenure.

Discussion: PIX11, KTLA, Financial Times, Politico, CNN, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, CNN, Politico, Al Jazeera, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, Portland Mercury, Insider, New York Times, KFOR-TV, NATO, Breitbart, WTOP News, NBC News, Common Dreams, BBC, Politico, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, KRQE-TV, KFOR-TV, WFLA-TV, Fox News, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, WFLA-TV, Associated Press, Insider, UPI, Metro.co.uk, National Newswatch, The Daily Caller, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Daily Kos, Boston.com, Streams of Crunchiness, The Moderate Voice, Deseret News, Los Angeles Times, TASS, Situation's Newsletter, HotAir, Al Jazeera, The BondBeat, Deseret News, LifeSite, Russia and Beyond, National Newswatch, Associated Press, Daily Mail, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Breitbart, RedState, Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, Political Wire, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, WPRI-TV, Insider, Изв …, HuffPost, Forbes, One America News Network, Portland Mercury, Task & Purpose and Townhall, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Russia Attacks Ukraine, Drawing Broad Condemnation — Missiles and airstrikes hit Kyiv and several other cities in Ukraine, in what President Biden calls an unprovoked attack, pledging further action against Moscow — KYIV, Ukraine—Russian armored columns pushed into Ukraine and airstrikes hit …

Discussion: Politico, Common Sense, New York Times, CNN, New York Times, New York Post, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, Providence, Insider, RedState, Metro.co.uk, Outside the Beltway, Outside the Tent, CNN and Financial Times

Telegraph:

Russia deploys mobile crematoriums to follow its troops into battle — Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, suggests the vehicle-mounted incinerators will be used to hide evidence of battlefield casualties — Russian forces have prepared a mobile crematorium for use in any future conflict …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and The Last Refuge

New York Times:

Ukraine Says It's Battling Russian Forces in Chernobyl — Ukraine's forces make ‘fierce resistance’ in Chernobyl zone, officials say. — KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine's interior ministry announced Thursday that Russian troops had pushed from Belarus, north of Ukraine, into the highly radioactive …

Discussion: Insider, BuzzFeed News, UPI, NBC New York, The Guardian and Foreign Policy

Politico:
Battles flare across Ukraine after Putin declares war

NATO:
NATO Secretary General statement on Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine

Discussion: The National Interest, Al Jazeera, CNBC and Insider

NBC News:
Russia-Ukraine conflict live updates: Ukraine battles Russian attack on multiple fronts

Discussion: Politico, The Guardian, Washington Post, UPI, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, NBC News, NBC New York and Mediaite

The White House:
Statement by President Joe Biden on Phone Call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine

Discussion: Associated Press, NBC News, Politico, Politico, Associated Press, New York Times, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, WSVN-TV, The National Interest, The Bulwark, New York Times, KSTP-TV, Washington Post and KRQE-TV

Associated Press:
Live updates: Ukraine leader: Russians checked outside Kyiv

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Beast, New York Post, The Status Kuo, Al Jazeera, WSVN-TV, The Daily Caller, The National Interest, This Newsletter Is Political, Bloomberg and KTLA

Reuters:
Russia invades Ukraine in Europe's ‘darkest hours’ since WWII

Discussion: Mic, Townhall, Christopher Six's Pick Six, This Week in Sustainability, News24, Fox News, Mediaite, New York Times, Power Line and The Energy Transitions Blog

Joe Tidy / BBC:
Cyber-attacks bring down many Ukraine websites

Discussion: WeLiveSecurity, Reuters, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, UPI, Washington Examiner, From The Forests of Arduinna, The Daily Caller, Sophos News, Insider and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Biden to impose additional sanctions on Russia now that Ukraine assault is underway

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Washington Post, TVLine and Wall Street Journal

Washington Post:
Russia unleashes military assault on Ukraine that Biden calls ‘premeditated war’

Discussion: New York Magazine, Aashlesha's Newsletter, The Blue State Conservative, Meaning In History, Los Angeles Times, TASS and NBC New York

Gideon Rachman / Financial Times:

Putin's war will shake the world — Russia intends to install a puppet government in Kyiv. The west must now respond — ADD TO MYFT — The phoney war is over. The real war has begun. For several weeks, the US and British governments have believed that Vladimir Putin was intent on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Discussion: Politico, New York Times and Bloomberg

Wall Street Journal:
How Ukraine Was Betrayed in Budapest

Discussion: Hackwhackers and Tablet Magazine

Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic:
Calamity Again … The poem is called “Calamity Again.” The original version was written in Ukrainian …

Discussion: Washington Post

Financial Times: Former European leaders resign from Russian corporate boards

American Greatness:
Putin's Predictabilities — It is easy to predict what the Russian president will do in any given situation.

Discussion: Politico, Small Dead Animals, Washington Post, New York Post, New York Times and Bloomberg

Michael Kofman / The Economist:
Michael Kofman, an expert on Russia's armed forces, explains why the Kremlin will seek regime change in Ukraine

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios, Wired, Axios, CNN, The Political Insider and Dakota Free Press

Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:
Arm the Ukrainians Now — A rule of thumb in the theater is that if someone produces a pistol …

Discussion: The Economist, New York Times, Bloomberg and Forbes

Washington Post:
Why Ukraine — and Russian aggression against it — matters to Americans

Discussion: National Review, IJR, Bloomberg and Convert or Die

Nick Wadhams / Bloomberg:
Biden's Own Aides Feared His Sanctions Wouldn't Stop Putin

Discussion: RedState, CBS News, Jihad Watch, Summit News, Campaign Update, Fox News and Florida Politics

Aaron Rupar / Public Notice:

Trump thought US troops are fighting Russians in Ukraine. Really. — The former president's immediate Fox News reaction to Russia's invasion was totally bonkers — and totally sympathetic to Putin. — On Thursday morning in Ukraine — Wednesday evening here in the US …

Discussion: Insider, Raw Story and Hennessy's View

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:

The Biden foreign policy doctrine comes under a stress test — When he ran for president in 2020, Joe Biden structured his foreign policy doctrine on two major themes: that democracies must triumph over autocracies and that he would restore the world order turned on its head by Donald Trump.

Discussion: Washington Post, Mock Paper Scissors and Daily Kos

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Now is the time to remember what Fox's own lawyers said about Tucker Carlson … As Russia prepared to invade Ukraine, the biggest star on Fox News was busy doing what he does best: being thoroughly and appallingly wrong. — He defended the murderous instigator Vladimir Putin …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Wrap, claytoonz and Above the Law

Ann Coulter:
Stop Talking About Ukraine, Republicans!

Discussion: Washington Post and National Review

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump immediately botches what's happening in Ukraine

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, POLITICUSUSA, The Jacked Up Journal, Brain Food and Insider

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
How Putin's mistakes rallied his enemies

Discussion: Kansas Reflector and Hackwhackers

David Corn / Mother Jones:
Is It Amnesia or Hypocrisy That Fuels the GOP's Crazy Response to Putin?

Discussion: The Triad, Forbes, Washington Post, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Washington Free Beacon, USA Today, Morning Shots, Jacobin, National Review and Today's Edition Newsletter

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:

A Loss of Prosecutors Isn't Necessarily a Win for Trump — Every investigation of Donald Trump, during and after his presidency, has been freighted with emotion and politics, from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe and two impeachments to ongoing civil and criminal actions in multiple jurisdictions.

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

2 Prosecutors Leading N.Y. Trump Inquiry Resign, Clouding Case's Future — The resignations came after the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, was said to have expressed doubts about the case. — The two prosecutors leading the Manhattan district attorney's investigation …

Discussion: New York Daily News, Mock Paper Scissors, National Review, Conservative Brief, JONATHAN TURLEY, BizPac Review, IJR and CNN

Judd Legum / Popular Information:

A far-right website created 36 days ago is more popular on Facebook than the Washington Post — Brandon Gill “provides strategic marketing direction for Conservative Brief,” the right-wing website whose underhanded tactics were exposed in yesterday's Popular Information.

Sam Adler-Bell / New York Magazine:

The Pandemic Interpreter … Approximately 5 million people start their day with David Leonhardt, the author of the New York Times' morning newsletter. That figure makes Leonhardt one of the most influential writers at the most influential paper in the country.

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:

Russians Now See a New Side to Putin: Dragging Them Into War — The autocrat who has steered Russia for 22 years was embraced by many Russians for what they saw as his rationality and astute risk management. That image has been upended. — MOSCOW — Russians thought they knew their president.

Discussion: Associated Press

Evan Smith / The Texas Tribune:

T-Squared: Ross Ramsey, our executive editor and co-founder, will retire on May 1 after more than four decades in journalism — A beloved reporter and columnist who knows more about Texas politics than just about anyone alive, he's been instrumental to the Tribune's operations and evolution.

Ben Blanchard / Washington Free Beacon:

Chinese Aircraft Move Into Taiwan's Air Defense Zone — TAIPEI (Reuters)—Taiwan's air force scrambled again on Thursday to warn away nine Chinese aircraft that entered its air defense zone, Taiwan's defense ministry said, on the same day that Russia invaded Ukraine, a crisis being watched closely in Taipei.