Ukraine Missiles, Travel Guru Dies, and Hamsters on a Plane

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1,000 Days of War

The Ukrainian military launched six US-supplied short-range ballistic missiles into Russia for the first time early Tuesday, two days after the Biden administration greenlit their expanded use. Russian officials claimed five of the missiles were intercepted, with a sixth hitting an ammunition depot in Russia's southwestern region of Bryansk. The incident came on the 1,000th day of the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II (see numbers).

Army Tactical Missile Systems are American-made short-range (up to 190 miles) ballistic missiles designed to be launched from mobile platforms. Their high speed—a result of their high launch trajectory through the atmosphere—makes them more difficult to intercept than the drones and cruise missiles Ukraine has previously fired into Russia. Biden reportedly shifted the policy to help Ukraine counter Russia's concentration of troops—including more than 10,000 North Koreans—in the Ukrainian-occupied Kursk territory of Russia.

Later Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold for justifying the use of nuclear weapons to include any attack from a nonnuclear country supported by a nuclear ally. 

Hong Kong Subversion Trial

Forty-five pro-democracy activists were sentenced Tuesday to prison terms ranging from four to 10 years in Hong Kong's largest case under Beijing's 2020 national security law. The defendants were accused of conspiring to subvert the government by holding unofficial primary elections for Hong Kong's legislature in July 2020.

Authorities said the elections undermined state power by attempting to secure a majority needed to veto budgets, which could have dissolved the legislature and forced its leader to resign. Benny Tai, a 60-year-old former law professor, received the longest sentence of 10 years for co-organizing the primary elections. The case was brought under China's national security law, which criminalized dissent in June 2020 after mass antigovernment protests in 2019. In total, 47 people were charged in the elections; two were acquitted in May. 

In recent years, Beijing has asserted more control over Hong Kong—a special administrative region that was mostly autonomous from Communist Party control following the UK ceding it to China in 1997.

Travel Guide Guru Dies

Arthur Frommer, the travel guidebook author and founder of the Frommer's brand, has died at age 95 from complications of pneumonia. Frommer revolutionized travel for Americans with his 1957 guidebook, "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day," which made international travel accessible and affordable. The book, updated annually until 2007, has sold millions of copies since its initial publication.

Born in 1929 in Virginia, Frommer began writing his first travel book for US soldiers overseas while serving in the Army in Germany in the 1950s. His 1957 guidebook—which coincided with the rise of jet travel that made trips to Europe more feasible—emphasized budget-conscious travel, advising readers to avoid first class, use public transportation, and save money in other ways.

The Frommer's brand has grown to include more than 130 active titles covering destinations worldwide, as well as podcasts, a radio show, and other media. See Frommer’s most memorable travel destinations here.

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