Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
(Want to get this newsletter in your inbox? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday. 1. The Biden administration warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could come within days. The U.S. has picked up intelligence that Russia is discussing next Wednesday as the target date for the start of military action, officials said. Americans should leave Ukraine in the next 24 to 48 hours, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said. The Pentagon ordered 3,000 additional troops to Poland, bringing to 5,000 the total number of reinforcements sent to Europe. U.S. intelligence officials had thought that President Vladimir Putin of Russia was prepared to wait until the end of the Beijing Olympics, on Feb.20, before possibly ordering an offensive. In recent days, the timeline began moving up, they say. Ukraine’s military said that Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east had been put on a high level of alert, completing a near encirclement of Ukraine by forces poised for military action. 2. President Biden plans to split $7 billion in frozen Afghan funds between humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and the relatives of victims of the Sept.11,2001, attacks. The funds were left behind after the collapse of the Afghan government in August. The Taliban claimed the money, but a group of relatives of the Sept.11 victims sought to seize it after winning lawsuits against the group. The economy of Afghanistan has collapsed, leading to mass starvation. Instead of deciding who deserved the funds more, Biden will split them in half, doling out roughly $3.5 billion to each. Separately, the Taliban released two Westerners working for the U.N. refugee agency, who had announced their detention. They had been held in Kabul for several days. 3. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told protesters in Canada he hoped they would “go home.” Trudeau said there would be “ an increasingly robust police intervention ” to put an end to protests by truckers opposed to vaccine mandates. He said that blockades at the border with the U.S. were severely damaging his country’s economy. Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, declared a state of emergency as Ottawa, Canada’s capital, braced for thousands of protesters to descend for a third consecutive weekend. In the U.S., the closure of a crossing between Detroit and Canada slowed the sourcing of crucial auto parts, shutting Toyota plants as far as West Virginia and Alabama. Similar trucker protests may disrupt U.S. cities this weekend, the authorities warned. 4. In a reversal, the F.
