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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a small Democratic delegation to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy in Kyiv on Saturday, reports the Washington Post. Pelosi reportedly traveled to Ukraine to reaffirm the United States’s support for the besieged country in its fight against Russia. Pelosi is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Ukraine to date. The House speaker was joined by six other Democratic members of congress, including Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory W. Meeks. During the meeting, Zelenskyy reportedly thanked the U.S. officials for their show of solidarity and for their commitment to helping protect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

Zelenskyy reported that more than 100 Ukrainian civilians were successfully evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol, writes CNN. The Ukrainian president stated that for the first time since the start of Russia’s invasion, a “real cease-fire” agreement was established to create a safe, working humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians. According to Mariupol’s city council, the rescue operation was paused over the weekend but resumed on Monday morning local time. Zelenskyy reported that the refugees evacuated from the steel plant will be sent to Zaporizhzhia and will be met by Ukrainian government officials. The effort to evacuate civilians from Mariupol is being led by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. 

Terrorist attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan, over the past two weeks killed more than 100 people, according to the New York Times. Explosions at a high school, two mosques, a minibus and elsewhere were reportedly executed by members of the Islamic State in an attempt to undermine the Taliban government and target minorities. The civilians targeted include the Hazara Shiite, an ethnic minority, and Sufi Muslims. 

An annual transparency report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) revealed that the FBI potentially conducted millions of unauthorized searches of Americans’ personal data in 2021, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to the report, the FBI conducted approximately 3.4 million warrantless searches of Americans’ data collected by the National Security Agency. According to the ODNI, more than half of the searches were related to a potential threat of Russian cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure. The disclosure of this data in the report is the first time a U.S. intelligence agency published a record of the FBI’s search history through U.S. data through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. ODNI officials reported that although the FBI’s searches were conducted without a warrant, they do not indicate systemic problems within intelligence agencies and were “vital” to the bureau’s mission to investigate threats to U.S. national security.  Senior Biden administration officials claim that the actual number of searches conducted by the FBI last year is much lower, citing inaccuracies in the count as issues and complexities in delineating and separating foreign data from U.S. data. 

Capitol riot defendant Brian Ulrich pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, writes the Wall Street Journal. Ulrich admitted to conspiring with the right-wing militia group known as the Oath Keepers to forcefully stop the transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing an official proceeding. Ulrich faces a possible sentence of up to six and a half years. 

A retired New York City police officer was convicted of assaulting a police officer at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to BuzzFeed News. Thomas Webster was also found guilty on five other counts, including interfering with police during a civil disorder and trespassing into a restricted area on Capitol grounds with a weapon. Webster swung a hollow metal flagpole at Capitol police officers and tackled one officer to the ground while grabbing at his helmet. Webster testified that he was acting in self defense. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. 

ICYMI: This Weekend on Lawfare

Jalel Harchaoui and John Lechner explained how Russia’s war in Ukraine affects its influence in the Central African Republic, Libya, Mali and Sudan. 

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