Ukraine in the dark, Kurdistan cornered, World Cup politics, Zero Covid in China

A Russia in retreat on the battlefield is trying to put the lights out in Ukraine. The hardship comes the same week that the capital got its first snowfall of the season. Kyiv residents are lining up for water in near-freezing temperatures. Ukrainians are wondering if Moscow intends to turn Kherson into another Mariupol. Vladimir Putin had mostly gone quiet since the Russian retreat from Kherson. But he waded back into it when he welcomed a sample of mothers and wives of soldiers ahead of the Russian calendar's Mother's Day.