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C.I.A. Chief Delivered Bleak Assessment of Russia’s War in Secretive Moscow Visit

John Ratcliffe’s meeting this week with a Russian intelligence chief was aimed at pushing the Kremlin to pursue a peace deal with Ukraine.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, delivered an urgent message to Aleksandr V. Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s F.S.B. intelligence service this week in a secret visit to Moscow.

Where Drones Cannot See, the Ukraine War Is a Deadly Game of Cat and Mouse

Russian troops are trying to infiltrate the vast, overgrown reservoir basin of a dam they blew up three years ago as Ukrainian soldiers hunt them at close quarters.

© Nicole Tung for The New York Times

Ukrainian soldiers of the Bratstvo Battalion unloading their equipment after making their way out of the Kahkovka reservoir basin, completing their weeks-long mission, in July.
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