Defense Department

• What Is the Oreshnik Ballistic Missile Russia Used in a Strike on Ukraine? - The attack was just the second time that Moscow had launched the nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic weapon.
• Trump Plunges the U.S. Into a New Era of Risk in Venezuela - President Trump opened a new chapter in American nation building as he declared that the United States had toppled Venezuela’s leader and would “run” the country for an indefinite period.
• Inside ‘Operation Absolute Resolve,’ the U.S. Effort to Capture Maduro - The tactically precise operation successfully extracted Mr. Maduro with no loss of American life, a result heralded by President Trump amid larger questions about the legality and rationale for the U.S. actions in Venezuela.
• The U.S. Has Been Building Up Forces Off Venezuela for Months - The United States military’s Southern Command said in December that about 15,000 troops were in the Caribbean region.
• Even as Trump Targets Boats in Strikes, Coast Guard Continues Anti-Drug Operations - Cutters are still stopping smugglers and seizing drugs, but the prosecutions of go-fast boat crews are dwindling in a realignment of federal resources.
• 6 Takeaways on the Unwinding U.S.-Ukraine Alliance - A Times investigation reveals the inside story of the Trump administration’s chaotic push for a peace deal and its erratic role in the war.
• U.S. Kills 2 in Strike in Pacific, as Trump Pressures Venezuela - The attack was the 30th announced by the U.S. military since early September. It came days after President Trump said the U.S. had struck a coastal site related to drugs and Venezuela.
• Grim Evidence of Trump’s Boat Strikes Washes Ashore on a Colombian Peninsula - First came the scorched boat. Then the mangled bodies. Then the packets with traces of marijuana. Now, fishermen fear the ocean that feeds them.
• How Oil, Drugs and Immigration Fueled Trump’s Venezuela Campaign - New details of deliberations show how aides with overlapping agendas drove the United States toward a militarized confrontation with Venezuela.
• The Pentagon and A.I. Giants Have a Weakness. Both Need China’s Batteries, Badly. - As warfare is reinvented in Ukraine, and Silicon Valley races to maintain its A.I. lead, China’s battery dominance is raising alarms far beyond the auto industry.