Today’s edition of quick hits:
* In Ukraine: “Russia fired a barrage of missiles at Odesa, the crucial Black Sea city…. Seven missiles were fired in Monday’s attack, which hit a shopping center and a warehouse, killing at least one person and injuring five others, Ukrainian officials said.”
* Death toll: “The number of civilians killed or injured in Ukraine has totaled at least 7,061 since Russia’s invasion began in late February, a United Nations official said at a news briefing Tuesday.”
* NATO: “The Nordic region’s defense capabilities would be strengthened if Sweden and Finland joined NATO, allowing joint defense planning within the framework of the alliance, Sweden’s defense minister told Swedish radio on Tuesday.”
* I know this was politically necessary, but it’s still deeply discouraging: “President Joe Biden and top Democrats have agreed to a GOP demand to disentangle a stalled COVID-19 response package from a separate supplemental request for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine so the latter can move more quickly.”
* Will Republican officials be pleased or disappointed? “Tech billionaire Elon Musk said Tuesday that he would allow former President Donald Trump back on Twitter after Musk completes his plan to buy the company, giving the most concrete example yet of how his vision of social media would play out in reality.” * Fed confirmation: “The economist Lisa Cook appears poised to become the first Black woman on the Federal Reserve Board, a historic moment for the central bank, Rachel Siegel reports. The Senate is expected to vote on Cook’s nomination Tuesday afternoon. While no Republicans are expected to vote for Cook, she will still be confirmed by Democrats’ razor-thin majority.” * A case we’re keeping an eye on: “Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and ‘fixer’ Michael Cohen testified for four hours Monday about his claim that the former president orchestrated an altercation with demonstrators outside Trump Tower in 2015.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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