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March 18, 2022

By Natasha Frost
Writer, Briefings

Good morning. We’re covering casualties in the war in

Ukraine and the deaths of aid workers in Ethiopia.

Grieving in Kyiv yesterday.Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Thousands of civilian lives lost in Ukraine

A day after a Russian strike reduced to rubble a theater in Mariupol, Ukraine,
where hundreds of people had been huddling for shelter, rescuers began
pulling out survivors one by one. The southern city, under siege by Russian
forces, has been squarely in Moscow’s cross hairs since the invasion began
three weeks ago. Follow the latest updates.

With as many as a thousand people reported to have taken shelter at the

theater and still unaccounted for, fears remained that whatever hope emerged
from the rescue scene would eventually be eclipsed by despair. “Our hearts are
broken by what Russia is doing to our people, to our Mariupol,” said
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.

Ukraine has suffered thousands of civilian casualties from the war. Taking
heavy losses on the battlefield, Russian forces have increasingly been aiming
bombs and missiles at towns and cities. Unable to capture urban centers, they
are leveling them instead, and the toll on civilians is worsening.

Kyiv: Russian forces are stalled outside the capital, where they have taken
heavy casualties and — perhaps most surprising — have failed to achieve
dominance in the air. Western officials said they were no longer confident that
Russia was planning a ground assault on Kyiv, a major objective.

Talks: Cease-fire negotiations between the two sides continued into a fourth
day, with uncertain prospects. The U.N. Security Council held an emergency
meeting to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation and the status of the
more than three million refugees.

Other updates:

• Russian and Ukrainian tourists are stranded in a chic Egyptian hotel as

one group’s home country tears the other apart.

• Russia said it had made a $117 million bond payment to prevent a

default.

• President Biden said that he believed the Russian president, Vladimir

Putin, was a “war criminal.”
 Moderna said its request covered all adults.Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald, via Associated Press

Moderna seeks authorization for a second

booster
The pharmaceutical company Moderna has asked U.S. health officials
for emergency authorization of a second booster of its coronavirus vaccine for all
adults. It comes after Pfizer and BioNTech sought authorization for a second
booster for those 65 and older on Tuesday.

The request is likely to intensify the ongoing scientific debate over how long
protection from the two vaccines lasts in the face of new variants. While some
scientists believe a second booster will help to bolster protection against
infection or mild disease, others say it is unclear whether protection against
severe disease is waning and whether such a booster in necessary.

Moderna said its request covered all adults so that officials and providers could
determine the appropriate use of a second booster, for groups including those
at higher risk of Covid-19 disease. Although there are indications that
regulators could move swiftly on Pfizer’s request, it is unclear how favorably
they will view Moderna’s more sweeping application.
Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

• Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, urged officials to reduce the effect of the
country’s aggressive containment efforts on people’s livelihoods.

• Italy is preparing to roll back many of its vaccine requirements.

• Experts warn that another Covid wave may be imminent in the U.S., fueled
by BA.2, the more contagious Omicron subvariant that is spreading
rapidly in Europe.

• Micheal Martin, the Irish prime minister, tested positive for the virus
right before St. Patrick’s Day.

The vehicle that carried María Hernández, Yohannes Halefom and Tedros Gebremariam before they were killed in
the Tigray region.

The aid workers executed by Ethiopian soldiers

In June last year, three aid workers for Doctors Without Borders suddenly
vanished amid the conflict in northern Ethiopia. Their satellite phone went
unanswered, and a tracking device showed their vehicle making a sudden U-
turn and then stopping. The next day, their bullet-riddled bodies were found
sprawled on a roadside near their burned-out vehicle.

Doctors Without Borders denounced the killings as “brutal murder” but did
not identify any culprit. But investigators, aid officials and Ethiopian soldiers
interviewed by The Times said the three aid workers had been gunned down by
Ethiopian government troops on the orders of a commander who was infuriated
to find them in an active combat zone.

Their deaths have underscored the specific perils facing aid workers in
Ethiopia, where hunger and dislocation threaten millions even as the
government seems to treat aid groups as enemies rather than allies. Since last
July, senior U.N. officials have been expelled from Ethiopia. A punishing
blockade on the region has also cut off food supplies to five million needy
people.

Remembering their names: The aid workers were María Hernández, a 35-
year-old Spaniard and conflict veteran; Yohannes Halefom, a 32-year-old
Ethiopian medic, found face down in the dirt; and Tedros Gebremariam, 31,
their Ethiopian driver.

Context: The brutal slayings, which attracted relatively little attention, were
yet another senseless atrocity in a bitter conflict that has been accompanied by
reports of massacres, sexual assault, ethnic cleansing and other likely war
crimes.
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