Zelensky urges NATO to do more in interview with The Times
In an interview with The Times, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the United States and Europe to do more to defend Ukraine. He proposed that NATO aircraft shoot down Russian missiles in Ukrainian airspace.
“What’s the problem?” Zelensky said in an interview in Kiev on Monday. “Why can’t we shoot them down? Is it defense? Yes. Is this an attack on Russia? No. No. There is no such question.
Analysts say such direct involvement by NATO could provoke Russian retaliation, but it has been resisted by Western countries. Zelensky compared how the United States and Britain helped Israel shoot down a series of drones and missiles from Iran last month.
Zelensky said he also called on senior U.S. officials to allow Ukraine to launch U.S. missiles and other weapons at military targets in Russia, but the United States remained opposed to the tactic. He said the inability to do this gave Russia a “huge advantage” in the cross-border war, which it was using to launch attacks in northeastern Ukraine.
Zelensky is frustrated and confused by the West’s reluctance to take bolder steps to ensure Ukraine wins the war.
His request comes at a critical moment in the war in Ukraine. Its troops are retreating, and America’s package of new weapons has yet to arrive in sufficient numbers. Analysts say Ukraine has never faced such a severe military challenge since the early days of the war.
“Shoot down the object over Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “And provide us with weapons to fight Russian forces on the border.”
Read the interview transcript.
Iranian President’s funeral begins
Video released by Iran’s news agency showed crowds lining the streets in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz yesterday as a procession carried President Ibrahim Raisi, the foreign minister and those who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. The other six had flag-draped coffins.
The parade in Tabriz was the first in a series of official events to bid farewell to Lacey. .
The country is grappling with the shock of losing two of its top leaders at such a tumultuous time. Now, Khamenei is weighing options on how to move forward with elections and rebuild the country’s leadership structure.
My colleague Erica Solomon reports that he must choose between launching a campaign and facing a moderate opponent, or limiting his candidacy and risking the embarrassment of low voter turnout.
US suspends Guantánamo transfer
Last year, the Biden administration prepared to send about a dozen Guantanamo Bay detainees to Oman for resettlement. Then Hamas attacked Israel, and the United States suddenly halted its covert operations.
None of the Yemeni prisoners have been charged with a crime, and all have been cleared for transfer by a national security review panel. A military aircraft was already on the runway, ready to airlift them.
But U.S. officials said Democrats were concerned about possible instability in the Middle East after the Oct. 7 attacks. As my colleague Carol Rosenberg reports, these arrangements are still under review.
More headlines
Jenny Erpenbeck’s novel Kairos, about a passionate love story in the final years of East Germany, won the International Booker Prize yesterday. The jury president said the book’s relationship and the couple’s “descent into a destructive spiral” traced the history of East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Erpenbeck shared the award with Michael Hoffman, who translated the book into English. This is the first award-winning original novel in German.
Read our review and Erpenbeck’s profile.
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Scarlett Johansson challenges OpenAI
OpenAI is asking Scarlett Johansson, who plays a virtual assistant in the movie “Her,” to consider licensing her voice to a virtual assistant. Johnson declined both times.
But last week, the company released a chatbot with a voice Johnson said was “eerily similar to mine.” She hired a lawyer and asked OpenAI to stop using the voice called Sky.
The company paused Sky launches over the weekend. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, “Sky’s voice is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and there is no intention to imitate her voice.”
Johansson is the latest high-profile figure to accuse OpenAI of using creative works without permission. The company has been sued by writers, actors and newspapers for copyright infringement, with The Times suing OpenAI and its partner Microsoft.
That concludes today’s press conference. Thank you for spending time with us this morning, see you tomorrow. — Justin
PS The Athletic has expanded its tennis coverage.
You can contact Justin and the team at: Briefing@nytimes.com.
