| Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. Hear ye, hear ye: Post Politics Now, our new live analysis approach to political coverage, launches today. To guide readers seamlessly through the politics of the day, Post Politics Now integrates breaking news coverage with political analysis, visuals and insights from reporters across the newsroom. You can find it on The Post's homepage every weekday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. | | |  | The big idea | | Zelensky's wrenching dilemma – how and when to negotiate with a 'war criminal' |  Larisa Savenko 72, stands outside her damaged home on Sunday with Andriy Leshbon in war torn Bucha, Ukraine, where destroyed Russian tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment litter the road where she lives. (Photo by Heidi Levine for The Washington Post). | | | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a glimpse Sunday into the balancing act he's attempting on the world stage: denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin for "genocide" and tarring him as untrustworthy while demanding face-to-face negotiations to end the war. As grim reports of Russian atrocities piled up over the weekend, drawing international condemnation of Russia, Zelenzky told CBS News' Face The Nation host Margaret Brennan: "This is genocide, the elimination of the whole nation and the people." Putin seeks "the destruction and extermination" of Ukraine's diverse population, Zelensky said. "We are being destroyed and exterminated, and this is happening in the Europe of the 21st century. So this is the torture of the whole nation." As talks between Ukraine and Russia grope their way toward a possible end to the conflict, the United States and its allies have been sharpening their rhetoric against Putin. President Biden has called him a war criminal. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has done so as well. | Negotiating amid the horror | | For anyone questioning in light of Moscow's actions whether there is value in negotiating with Putin, Zelensky gave a pretty wrenching explanation to CBS. Simply put, he has to set aside his personal revulsion toward Putin and Russian violence in Ukraine. | | "As the president of Ukraine, there cannot be just my personal view about President Putin and a dialogue with the Russian Federation. I have to stand for the interests of my country," he said. | - "It's difficult to say how, after all, what has been done, we can have any kind of negotiations with Russia. That's on the personal level," he said. "But, as a president, I have to do it. Any war has to end, just end."
| | "There is no any other way [sic]. This, I'm saying as a president. There's no any other way [sic], but the dialogue, if we don't want hundreds of thousands, millions to die," Zelensky told CBS. Zelensky's mind-set matters. I wrote last week that diplomatic negotiations in large part reflect how warring parties think they're doing on the battlefield, and whether they think they have more to gain through more fighting versus a negotiated settlement. The Ukrainian leader's wartime leadership has in some ways complicated his position: He has harnessed Ukrainian battlefield heroics and a sense of national identity to galvanize resistance to Russia. Those same forces could make it harder for him to compromise with Putin. My colleagues Paul Sonne, Shane Harris, Michael Birnbaum and Souad Mekhennet did a superb job over the weekend of breaking down Zelensky's balancing act and the potential political peril he faces at home. | - "Now, as the war grinds on in its sixth week and peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators continue, Zelensky faces a new set of challenges. He must keep up morale and the will to fight amid battlefield casualties, economic devastation and vast civilian suffering. He must retain the confidence of Western nations that Ukraine can prevail to ensure weapons keep flowing."
| | "But as time goes on he must also figure out what if any sort of political agreement with Moscow to end the war will be acceptable to a Ukrainian population riding high after repelling Russian forces in many areas and feeling inspired to resist by his own actions and words. Compromises may also be more difficult after evidence mounted Sunday of Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians following the retreat from the Kyiv region, sparking public revulsion." | Bringing the war to an end | | On NBC's Meet The Press, Secretary of State Antony Blinken laid out a rationale similar to Zelensky's when host Chuck Todd asked whether widely reported Russian battlefield setbacks might make negotiations with Putin less appealing. | | The Russian leader has refused to meet face to face with Zelensky, Blinken noted. "Here's the thing: Even though he's been set back, even though I believe this is already a strategic defeat for Vladimir Putin, the death and destruction that he is wreaking every single day in Ukraine, the images on our TVs and on social media every single day, are terrible," Blinken said. "And so, there's also a strong interest in bringing those to an end." That's also where Zelensky's negotiations with the United States and its allies come in, notably on the question of providing Ukraine with "security guarantees" to deter future Russian attacks. But that'll be for another column. | | |  | What's happening now | | Senate starts voting on Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court bid |  Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson meets with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) in his office at the United States Capitol building on March 29. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters) | | Biden decries Putin as a 'war criminal' | | Joe Biden | "You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter – we saw it happen in Bucha – this warrants him – he is a war criminal." | | | | | | No Trump endorsement yet in Ohio Senate race, but Cruz weighs in | | "No one in the crowded Ohio Republican Senate race has yet to secure a coveted endorsement from former president Donald Trump. But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) weighed in on Monday, throwing his support to Josh Mandel," John Wagner and Mariana Alfaro report. | Shanghai to extend lockdown of 26 million people as it reviews coronavirus test results | | "The country sent the military and thousands of healthcare workers into Shanghai to help carry out COVID-19 tests for all of its 26 million residents on Monday, in one of the country's biggest-ever public health responses," Reuters's David Kirton reports. | California police search for shooters who killed 6, hurt 12 | | "Sacramento police said they were searching for at least two people who opened fire around 2 a.m. Sunday on the outskirts of the city's downtown entertainment district, anchored by the Golden One Arena that hosts concerts and the NBA's Sacramento Kings," the Associated Press's Adam Beam reports. | | |  | Lunchtime reads from The Post | | Bucha massacre tests Europe's 'red lines' on Russian energy |  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky walks in the town of Bucha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, on Monday. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images) | | - In France: "With scenes of the devastation splashed across newspapers, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday indications of 'war crimes' in Ukraine warranted new sanctions and that he will work with Germany and other E.U. partners to move forward on the issue on Russian oil and coal."
- In Germany: "German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Sunday that Bucha had put energy sanctions on the table, but other Germany leaders later suggested an energy embargo is unlikely — prompting Poland's prime minister call out Berlin for being an E.U. holdout."
- In Italy: "Italy's foreign minister said Monday that the country will not veto sanctions on Russian gas."
| Dems plot spring sprint for party-line spending deal with Manchin | | "With their 50-member majority poised to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court by the end of the week, Democrats say they will quickly turn to trying to rebuild the bill once known as Build Back Better. But rather than a redux of the slow-motion collapse of that $1.7 trillion plan, they say they'll swiftly meet Manchin where he is," Politico's Burgess Everett reports. | The big data machine driving online sports betting | | "The use of Big Data allows DraftKings and FanDuel to optimize for addiction. Betting companies track users' activity on the platform, receive other information from third-party data broker exchanges, and assemble detailed files on users. They then identify addictive traits through behavioral profiling, targeting high-risk gamblers with marketing and other promotional schemes to draw them back to the platform. It's the surveillance model of social media giants, except instead of an attention drain to feed that addiction, this drain is purely financial," the American Prospect's Luke Goldstein writes. A new era: "In today's world of online betting, gamblers aren't stalked by a bookie or a loan shark, threatening to break their kneecaps unless they cough up the debt. Instead, they're surveilled by algorithmic software that constantly feeds their worst compulsions." | | |  | The Biden agenda | | Biden to detail plans to tackle U.S. trucking challenges |  President Biden departs Wilmington on return travel to Washington, from Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., on Monday. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters) | | | "Biden will provide details on Monday of his administration's plans to step up the number of truck drivers by drawing in more women and veterans, as the White House moves to strengthen national supply chains," Reuters's Nandita Bose reports. | Republican states sue to stop Biden admin's lifting of Title 42 border policy | | "The attorneys general of Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri are suing over the move to end Title 42, which was implemented by the Trump administration in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and allows for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the border, on May 23," Fox News's Adam Shaw reports. | Biden cites economic gains, but voters see much more to do | Worker shortage thwarts Biden's "millions" of jobs pledge | | "Job potential from building out clean energy and 'onshoring' — bringing home — overseas manufacturing hasn't panned out or has been overstated. [Biden's] words have been more political statement than governing result," Axios's Sarah Mucha and Neil Irwin report. | Obama to return to White House to celebrate health care reform | | |  | Why the Russian military is bogged down by logistics in Ukraine, visualized | | | |  | Hot on the left | | The abortion underground: How a covert network of activists is preparing for a post-Roe future |  Stephen Parlato of Boulder, Colo., holds a sign that reads "Hands Off Roe!!!" as abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion protesters demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Dec. 1, 2021, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/AP) | | | "For many Americans, Roe already feels meaningless. Nearly 90 percent of U.S. counties lack a clinic that offers abortions. States have passed more than 1,300 restrictions on abortion since it was made a constitutional right; for people struggling to get by, those restrictions can be insurmountable," Jessica Bruder writes for the Atlantic. "A sprawling grassroots infrastructure has already grown in the cracks created by such challenges, even with Roe still the law of the land…This improvised safety net doesn't catch everyone, though. Below the grass roots is the underground: a small network of community providers who connect with abortion seekers by word of mouth. This network, too, is growing. Its ranks include midwives, herbalists, doulas, and educators. When necessary, they are often willing to work around the law." | | |  | Hot on the right | | The Secret Service has been paying over $30K per month for Malibu mansion to protect Hunter Biden |  Hunter Biden walks to Marine One on the Ellipse outside the White House May 22, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images) | | | "Hunter Biden is apparently spending his father's presidency living in luxury in Malibu — and so is his taxpayer-funded security detail," ABC News's Josh Margolin, John Santucci, and Soo Rin Kim report. Hunter Biden's security detail has been staying in a Malibu mansion for nearly a year, sources familiar with the matter told ABC. Why so swanky? "The agency responsible for protecting the president and his family — among other ranking government officials — selected the property in order to be located as close as possible to Biden's own rented mansion where he is paying about $20,000 a month according to property listings, sources told ABC News." | - Standard procedure: Retired senior Secret Service agent Don Mihalek said the arrangement is nothing new, but that the current housing market has significantly driven up the cost of protecting the First Family.
- "'Typically, wherever a protectee sets up their residence, the Secret Service is forced to find someplace to rent nearby at market value, Mihalek said, noting that the agency is also renting out properties to protect President Joe Biden's residences in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware."
| | |  | Today in Washington | | | At 1:45 p.m., Biden will deliver remarks on the supply chain with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. | | |  | In closing | | Can you guess which celebrity was spotted in archival footage of the 1970 Minneapolis Teachers Strike? | | If you guessed Prince, congratulations! Minnesota CBS affiliate WCCO stumbled across the footage while restoring some film to offer context to reporting on the educators strike that happened in the same district last month. WCCO Production Manager Matt Liddy made the discovery. "I immediately just went out to the newsroom and started showing people and saying, 'I'm not gonna tell you who I think this is, but who do you think this is?' And every single person [said] 'Prince,'" Liddy said. But then he had to verify it. Don't miss this read on his journey. | | Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow. | | | | | |
