It is on or about day eighty-three of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and though the Ukrainian forces have pushed some Russian troops back to the Russian border near Kharkiv, it appears that they have given up the fight for Mariupol, and that Russian troops in the steel plant are being evacuated. We’ll see how much of this is confirmed in the next few days. Meanwhile, here is a look at the aftermath of the fighting in villages surrounding Kharkiv as people start to see what is left.

Elsewhere, Putin gave a calm response to Finland and Sweden’s decision to apply for NATO membership, saying that there is no threat to Russia if these states join. So that’s…interesting. Finnish and Swedish troops will be taking part in a NATO military training exercise in Estonia (which has apparently been in the works for years).

Closer to home, there has been a lot of handwringing about the mass shooting in Buffalo, and the role that white supremacy and violent extremism play here in Canada, and the conspiracy theory of “white replacement theory” playing its own role in our politics (Hello, Andrew Scheer!). This also led to more sniping between Conservative leadership candidates, with particular focus on Pierre Poilievre, who has aligned himself with some of these characters in his support for the occupation in Ottawa. With that in mind, here is a thread full of receipts from Stephanie Carvin, selectively quoted below so click through to read the whole thing (and bonus threads here from Jessica Davis, and here from Amarnath Amarasingam that are also worth considering).

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1526302228868374528

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1526302232622288896

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1526302236074250242

Good reads:

• The prime minister named the panel who will select candidates to be the next Supreme Court of Canada justice, and it includes an Indigenous member.
• Mélanie Joly has condemned the behaviour of Israeli police at the funeral for a slain Palestinian journalist (whose death Canada is demanding an investigation of).
• Marc Miller offers the reminder that the searches for unmarked graves on former residential school sites are just beginning.
• Steven Guilbeault launched three months of public online consultations to feed into the government’s climate adaptation strategy.
• David Lametti says the government is taking its time in creating the commission to examine possible wrongful convictions because they want to get it right.
• The military ombudsman is adding his voice to the criticism that the Canadian Forces is not removing the barriers to diversifying its ranks.
• The outgoing CRTC chair promises that they won’t be regulating user-generated content if the Broadcasting Act changes pass  Parliament.
• Emails between police and the National Capital Commission were released, and it shows even more police inaction during the occupation.
• There aren’t enough interpreters to properly staff existing committees plus late-night sittings, but MPs voted to create yet another special committee. Whee!
• Quebec’s coroner reports that the province’s decision to focus on hospitals, along with chronic deficiencies in the long-term care system, contributed to mass deaths.
• For The Line, Joti Heir details the slow speed at which Ukrainians are able to get to Canada, while grassroots organizations are mobilizing in Canadian cities.
• Heather Scoffield evaluates some of the affordability proposals that federal parties are floating to combat inflation.
• Colby Cosh (rightly) looks askance at the faux controversy of Doug Ford’s briefing binder in the Ontario debate, given the ridiculousness of the exercise.
• Paul Wells offers his acerbic take on last night’s Ontario leaders’ debate.

Odds and ends:

My latest for National Magazine takes a deeper dive into Friday’s Supreme Court of Canada decision on automatism, and why most of the headlines were wrong.

The federal government has selected the winner of the competition to redesign “Block 2” across from Parliament Hill, and I…don’t hate it?

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