US Def Sec Austin And Russian Defence Minister Shoigu Hold Call

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu have held a call amid concerns that clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces around the strategically significant city of Kherson may precipitate an escalation of Russian strikes of civilian infrastructure.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned yesterday that Russia was preparing a “false flag” operation to blow up a large hydroelectric dam which could result in the flooding of 80 towns and villages in the Kherson area and affect hundreds of thousands of civilians.
• US President Joe Biden said in remarks at the White House this week: "I think [Russian President] Vladimir Putin finds himself in an incredibly difficult position and what it reflects to me is it seems his only tool available to him is to brutalize individual citizens in Ukraine to try to intimidate them into capitulating."
• Prospect of higher-level diplomatic talks between Washington and Moscow remains remote. Politico reported this week that the White House is taking steps to ensure that Biden doesn't inadvertently come into direct contact with Putin at the G20 summit in Indonesia next month.