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🌎  7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Mariupol defiant, as Russian attack intensifies:Ukraine has ignored Russia’s demand to surrender Mariupol by 5 a.m. Moscow time today, as the port city increasingly becomes a symbol of the savagery of Moscow’s assault. An estimated 300,000 people are trapped in Mariupol with supplies running out. Meanwhile in Kyiv, at least six people were killed in the bombing of a shopping center, and Belarus pulls diplomats out of Ukraine in the latest sign that it may join the invasion.

• Biden to travel to Poland after NATO Summit: U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Poland on Friday to meet with President Andrzej Duda after a NATO Summit in Brussels, to discuss the international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The White House on Sunday ruled out a possible dangerous Biden visit to Kyiv.

• Germany agrees on gas deal with Qatar: Germany and Qatar have reached a long-term energy partnership including the supply of liquified natural gas, as the European country seeks to reduce its energy dependence on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

• Chinese Eastern Airlines crashes: A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 132 passengers has crashed in a mountainous area in Guangxi province in southern China and caught fire. Rescue teams have been sent to the crash site.

• Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation hearings set to begin in Washington: U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson will appear before the Senate judiciary committee on Monday to start confirmation hearings that could see her become the first Black woman justice.

• Hong Kong to ease COVID rules: Hong Kong will scrap flight bans on nine countries and reduce quarantine for incoming travelers with a negative COVID-19 test from April 1, amid mounting frustration against the city’s strict zero-COVID policy.

• Scientists discover new form of ice: A new form of ice that cannot be found anywhere on Earth has been discovered by a team of American scientists, who speculate this phase of ice could be abundant on planets outside our solar system.

🗞️  FRONT PAGE

Belgian daily Het Nieuwsblad features the aftermath of a car ramming into a crowd of carnival goers early Sunday morning in La Louviere, south of Brussels, killing 6 and wounding dozens. The circumstances are still being investigated, although authorities have ruled out terrorism.

#️⃣  BY THE NUMBERS

76%

That’s the percentage of Australians who think tech giants should do more to combat online disinformation. This is one of the key findings as part of an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) that led the country’s media regulator to toughen regulations regarding digital platforms and make sure Big Tech companies actively seek to reduce the spread of fake news.

📰  STORY OF THE DAY

How the West got Russia so wrong — And keeps getting it wrong

Ukrainian President Zelensky's belief that Russia's invasion has nullified both European and global security should not be taken lightly. Everything must be rebuilt — and must happen much faster than Western leaders seem prepared to do. A view from Kyiv-based news media Livy Bereg.

🇷🇺🌍 After the overthrow of the USSR, the West relaxed: Russia was weak for a long time and needed huge financial interventions. But all leaders, from Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin, sought one thing: to restore the empire. The world turned a blind eye throughout Moscow’s preparation: it did not believe that Russia, which had gained access to Western goods, finance, services and technology, could start a major war in Europe or undermine the continental and global security system. The civilized world did not understand that expansion, and not capital, was most important in Russia’s eyes.

💸 What the West doesn’t realize is that Putin wants sanctions. And the tougher they are, the better. Because he seeks to recreate the empire, he wants the Soviet Union to be reborn in 2022, a hundred years after its foundation. And for it to re-emerge, it needs an obedient, poor population and a zero-sum environment that has no resources. Those Russians with means are already leaving their country. Some are taking to the streets, but there remains an obedient silent majority, which is Putin’s prize possession.

❌ Naive and cowardly, the West does not understand that security no longer exists, that instead everything has been annulled — the UN Security Council, where Russia has a veto; the helpless OSCE, which is corrupted by Russian agencies; incompetent NATO, whose members are on the verge of an unfathomable war. Europe was saved after the flames of World War II and the heat of the Cold War through its unification. However, it is naive to hope that in such a revanchist Russia, the continent will be protected from another military crisis.

➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com

📣 VERBATIM

Boris, your words offend Ukrainians, the British and common sense.

— Former president of the European Council Donald Tusk weighed in on the controversy surrounding British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s comparison of the plight of Ukrainians with Brexit. Johnson told the Conservative Party's spring conference in Blackpool: “I know that it's the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom, every time […] When the British people voted for Brexit […] it's because they wanted to be free.”