Unlike other monetary policymakers, the officials at the European Central Bank have the extra challenge of setting one policy for many different countries, each with its own fiscal policy, economic outlook and debt level.
As the bank tightens its easy-money policies by raising rates and ending its multitrillion-euro bond-buying programs, it is also trying to prevent government borrowing costs from diverging wildly across the eurozone and impeding the effectiveness of monetary policy.
On Thursday, the bank is expected to announce more details of a new policy tool it is designing to stop borrowing costs rising out of sync with a country’s economic fundamentals.
These differences among countries are most clearly reflected in sovereign bond yields, a measure of government borrowing costs. Investors will demand higher yields from countries that they believe are riskier to lend to, maybe because of a history of debt default or political instability or slow economic growth.
Borrowing costs for Italy, which has one of the highestdebt burdens in the eurozone, have risen sharply since the European Central Bank reaffirmed its plans to raise rates. This week, they surged again when the country’s government fell apart, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi resigning on Thursday after key parts of the coalition government abandoned him. The difference, or spread, between 10-year sovereign bond yields in Italy and Germany is now roughly double what it was at this time last year.
The European Central Bank considers a sudden break in the relationship between government borrowing costs and economic fundamentals to be so-called market fragmentation. It has said it won’t tolerate this as it would reduce the effectiveness of its other monetary policy tools to bring down inflation.
It is “critical that financing conditions move broadly in sync across the euro area when we change our stance,” Luis de Guindos, vice president of the bank, said earlier this month. “For two equally sound firms in the euro area, a change in the monetary policy stance should lead to a similar reaction in their financing conditions, no matter in which country they are domiciled.”
At the end of June, the bank announced that from the beginning of July it would implement its first line of defense against fragmentation by steering the reinvestments of proceeds from maturing bonds in its 1.85 trillion euro ($1.88 trillion) pandemic-era bond-buying program to bonds of countries that would best support its monetary policy goal of consistency. For example, it might use the proceeds from maturing German bonds to buy Italian debt.
At the same time, the bank said it was working on a new tool to stop broadly diverging borrowing costs for some countries. Internal disagreements needed to be overcome about the design of this tool to ensure that it didn’t encourage governments to be fiscally irresponsible under the belief that the central bank would come to the rescue.
The central bank has been through this battle before. At the height of the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis a decade ago, the central bank tried to design a policy tool that would match the commitment by Mr. Draghi, then the president of the European Central Bank, to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro. It was met with many political and legal challenges.
In the end, the tool, which would allow the bank to make unlimited purchases of a country’s debt if the country was part of a formal bailout and reform program, was never used.
The new tool is expected to come with fewer conditions for a country to benefit from it.
Ex-Aussie agriculture minister calls for Heard rap over perjury claims
Australia’s former minister for agriculture says the book should be thrown at Amber Heard if she perjured herself during a trial over her failure to declare two dogs she took into the country in 2015.
Heard avoided conviction in the court case, held in 2016, but Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment is reportedly looking into claims that the actor lied under oath in the trial.
“[Biosecurity] is something that’s very important to us,” Barnaby Joyce told Law & Crime’s Sidebar podcast. “People come to Australia, and you don’t have the screw fly, we don’t have rabies, we don’t have bovine tuberculosis, we don’t have brucelosis…
“My father was a vet, and we spent a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of pain trying to get these diseases out of our nation and we don’t want them back, and we don’t want new ones in.
“In my area, if we got foot and mouth or rabies, people would go broke. There’d be people who would lose their houses. That’s how serious it is. If you lost your house, if you lost your income, what would you expect from the court?
“How would you see justice if you realised it was just someone who flagrantly broke the law because they thought they were a little bit special?”
Joyce added that the authorities should look at the role played by those around Heard, including former husband Johnny Depp, in any perjury that might have been committed.
“I would hope that if it was the occasion that someone had perjured themselves, that firstly [there would be] a fulsome investigation of whether anybody knew about it, was complicit in it, gave advice on it. I think that should be investigated,” he said.
Baseball’s top players are gathering at Dodger Stadium for the 2022 MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night. The National League, which had Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw start the game on the mound, took the lead in the first inning as Mookie Betts (RBI single) and Paul Goldschmidt (solo homer) drove in runs. That lead lasted until the fourth inning, when Giancarlo Stanton and Byron Buxton hit back-to-back homers off Tony Gonsolin to give the AL a 3-2 lead.
This is the 92nd installment of the Midsummer Classic, and while the American League holds a narrow 46-43-2 edge in the all-time series, the AL has dominated of late. The American League has won the last eight All-Star Games and 20 of the last 24 All-Star Games. First pitch was shortly after 8 p.m. ET. Here’s how to watch the 2022 MLB All-Star Game.
CBS Sports will be providing live updates, analysis, highlights and more during the 2022 MLB All-Star Game. Follow along below.
Neil Parrott takes aim at David Trone, says he’s not worried about primary challenger’s endorsements
Neil Parrott, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, aims to defeat his challengers in Tuesday’s GOP primary election to represent the Sixth District, telling Fox News Digital that he is not concerned with the “out of state” endorsements that one of his primary challengers has received.
Asked whether he was worried about endorsements that have been given to Matthew Foldi, a 25-year-old journalist hoping to garner the GOP nomination to represent the Sixth District, Parrott said, “Not at all.”
Foldi has racked up a number of endorsements from prominent Republicans, including ones from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., House GOP Conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, and former Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell. Last week, Foldi received endorsements from Donald Trump Jr. and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“His endorsements are people out of the state,” Parrott said. “He’s getting endorsements from people out in California, but that doesn’t impact this district. People care about their pocketbooks, they care about who is invested in this area, western Maryland. He’s not from here.”
Parrott also took aim at incumbent Democratic Rep. David Trone, who he is likely to face in the November general election should he advance from the primary on Tuesday.
“He doesn’t live in the district. Never has,” Parrott said of Trone. “He’s just not from here. He can’t relate to the people in this district. He’s not one of us. He’s a D.C., inside the beltway elitist and that doesn’t do a good job representing western and central Maryland.”
“David Trone thinks that he can come in here and buy this seat,” Parrott added. “He dumped in $2 million a couple months ago and this last month he’s dumped in $10 million. … His support is weak.”
LONDON — By Monday afternoon, temperatures had reached 34 degrees Celsius (94 Fahrenheit) in north London, but residents were anxiously looking ahead to Tuesday, when it was forecast to be even hotter.
Mona Suleiman, 45, and her friend Zaina Al Amin, 40, were waiting for a bus as the afternoon grew warmer.
“I am not worried about myself in this heat,” said Ms. Suleiman, who is originally from Eritrea. “But I am worried about my children.”
Her apartment gets too hot, she said, and despite being advised to keep her children, ages 6 and 10, home from school, she decided to send them in because she thought it might be cooler there.
Schools, most of which are in their final week of classes before a summer break, were doing their best to keep children cool, especially in older buildings ill-equipped for the high temperatures. At one elementary school off Portobello Road, staff had set up a wading pool, and the children could be heard splashing and laughing up the street.
“Especially at night, in the summer in my flat it’s already too hot,” Ms. Suleiman said, adding that she was worried that it would become unbearable on Monday night.
Ms. Al Amin said the women, who are both Muslim and wore traditional dress and headscarves, didn’t mind the weather outside in their lightweight cotton clothing, but were worried about boarding the bus.
“At this time, it’s too difficult,” she said. “There’s not enough air.”
In Hyde Park, a handful of sunbathers braved the afternoon heat and lay blankets on the visibly parched grass. Steps away, prospective swimmers were being turned away from the Serpentine Lido, where a sign signaled the facility was at capacity. Among them were Lalou Laredo, 19, and Rachel Trippier, 22, who were disappointed to be turned away but remarked that the warm water, which was 26 degrees Celsius (78.8 Fahrenheit), might actually make them feel worse.
“London really isn’t good for days like this,” Ms. Laredo said, lamenting the lack of places to cool down in the extreme heat.
Ms. Trippier added that she was worried about the new reality of increasingly extreme temperatures.
Ms. Laredo agreed. “It’s always in the back of our minds,” she said. “It’s frustrating that people still deny it.”
Across central London, the neighborhood near St. Paul’s Cathedral bustled with activity at lunchtime, despite the heat. A few joggers dodged both traffic and pedestrians in the blazing sun. Tourists stood in the shade of the cathedral, consulting maps on their phones. Office workers wore suit jackets outside despite the heat, carrying takeaway food.
Umbrellas were one way people shielded themselves from the blazing sun in London. Many employers encouraged their workers to work from home because of the heat.Credit…Yui Mok/PA Images, via Getty Images
Pubs used the blazing sun to their advantage. “Ice, Ice, baby!” was scrawled on a signboard outside one pub, The Paternoster. “Refreshing peach ice tea or ice-cold coffee!”
On a workday, the pub would normally have at least 80 people at lunch. But on Monday, when many workers had been encouraged to work from home, there were five.
“It is usually busier than this,” said Sam Jordan, 22, a bartender. “I think a lot of office workers are working from home.”
In nearby Paternoster Square, about three dozen people sat in lawn chairs or at picnic tables, some in the shade, eating lunch and watching a large screen that had been erected weeks ago for the public to watch Wimbledon. On Monday, the crowd watched a show about politics and the upcoming battle to select a new prime minister.
Marilyn Tan, wielding a protective umbrella, said she had just gotten off a plane from Singapore, where the weather was slightly cooler than London.
“This has had no effect on me,” said Ms. Tan, 57. “I am fine. I didn’t even tie my hair back.”
Julio Rodriguez has the Home Run Derby off to a hot start with 32 home runs in the first round.
It’s time for the 2022 All-Star Home Run Derby! Some of the biggest names in the sport are in Hollywood, taking aim at the Dodger Stadium bleachers.
Headlining the derby is back-to-back derby champion Pete Alonso. How do the rest of the participants stack up to the home run king? Can anyone take the belt from the Mets slugger known as “Polar Bear”?
This is your one-stop shop for all things Home Run Derby, from round-by-round results to live updates to pre-derby predictions and takes from ESPN MLB experts Alden Gonzalez, Buster Olney, Jeff Passan and David Schoenfield.
Let the fun begin!
Watch: T-Mobile Home Run Derby on ESPN (8 p.m. ET)
MLB All-Star Home Run Derby bracket
(1) Kyle Schwarber vs. (8) Albert Pujols
(4) Juan Soto vs. (5) Jose Ramirez
(6) Julio Rodriguez vs. (3) Corey Seager
(7) Ronald Acuna Jr. vs. (2) Pete Alonso
Round 1
Julio Rodriguez (32 home runs) defeats Corey Seager (24 home runs)
Pete Alonso (20 home runs) defeats Ronald Acuna Jr. (19 home runs)
Jose Ramirez (16 home runs) vs. Juan Soto
Live updates
The three-peat dream lives on
One thing about Alonso in the Home Run Derby: He never panics. Midway through his round he was in trouble, struggling to find that perfect launch angle and instead hitting low liners that were falling short of the warning track. But he found his swing and edged past Acuna Jr. with just under 30 seconds remaining in his bonus round. It wasn’t a dominant round, but the dream for a three-peat lives on.
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Pete Alonso comes up clutch in the first round of the Home Run Derby as he hits enough dingers to eliminate Ronald Acuna Jr.
Seattle great praises J-Rod
With his victory over Seager, Rodriguez is the first Mariner to advance to the semifinals of the Derby since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1998. Guess who’s on site today: The Kid himself. Griffey’s advice: “Let Julio be Julio.”
Rodriguez hot out of the gate
Rookie nerves? Not for Julio Rodriguez. The 21-year-old phenom put together one of the most impressive rounds in Home Run Derby history, finishing with 32 home runs. He started out hitting a series of high fly balls that scraped over the fence, transitioned into some low screaming liners that cleared the fence, then starting bashing a few that cleared the whole dang stadium.
Junior knows good content when he sees it. pic.twitter.com/qgGGrfFYEH
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 19, 2022
We’re one batter in, but the message has been sent: Julio is coming for your crown, Pete Alonso.
We’re underway!
The 2022 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby is underway with Mariners phenom Julio Rodriguez getting it started in Los Angeles.
Pre-Derby predictions
Who is going to win the Home Run Derby and whom will he beat in the final?
Gonzalez: Soto was not happy to be thrown into trade rumors right before the All-Star break, and this is the perfect place for the game’s best pure hitter to channel his anger. Soto has been scorching hot this month and will dethrone Pete Alonso in the finals. He’ll do so by whacking a bunch of opposite-field homers, too.
Olney: Soto will go head-to-head with Alonso, and it’ll be like Ali-Frazier, with Soto barely edging the defending champion.
Passan: Alonso, of course. He’s the most prolific home run hitter on the planet. He knows how to win the derby, seeing as he’s done so the past two times. His most difficult test might come in the first round against Acuna, but they’ve faced one another before, in 2019, and the Polar Bear came out on top. He’ll do so again this year, thwarting NL East foe Soto in the finals.
Schoenfield: It’s the year of the Mariners! Rodriguez has been on fire, and he’s not lacking in confidence. He’s going to hit a bunch of low lasers into the left-center bleachers and, like Alonso in 2019, he’s going to win it as a rookie — knocking out Alonso in the semifinals and Schwarber in the final.
Who will hit the longest home run of the night and how far?
Gonzalez: Acuna is averaging 437 feet per home run this season, the longest in the majors. Dating back to his rookie year in 2018, he has hit 13 home runs 450 feet or longer, second to only C.J. Cron — even though he missed significant time with a torn ACL. Three years ago, Acuna homered to all fields, producing a beautiful spray chart, but he lost to Alonso in the second round. If he decides to get pull happy this year, he’ll clear Dodger Stadium a few times. One might even reach 510 feet.
Olney: Alonso will club a 512-foot homer, revitalizing conversation about a juiced ball.
Passan: The prodigious power of Soto is so free, so easy, one takes it for granted. In an event like the Home Run Derby, the number of home runs matters more than the distance when it comes to winning the event, but not hearts and minds. We want to see tanks. We want to see balls that never stop flying. We want to see Soto hit a ball 515 feet, and we will.
Schoenfield: There have been only five home runs hit out of Dodger Stadium during an action game — two by Willie Stargell and one each from Mark McGwire, Mike Piazza and Giancarlo Stanton. The longest of those was one of Stargell’s at an estimated 506 feet. We’re not only going to see a few fly out of the ballpark during the contest, we’re going to see a couple longer than 506. And the longest: Schwarber is going to crack a 522-foot home run.
Albert Pujols is participating in his final Home Run Derby tonight, what are your predictions for the 42-year-old?
Gonzalez: I have him shocking everybody by defeating Schwarber, the NL’s home run leader, in the first round. Don’t ever underestimate Pujols’ pride and competitiveness. He hasn’t been, well, Albert Pujols, because his bat speed is no longer quick enough to adjust to the cartoonish velocities of today’s game; it has nothing to do with his raw power. He knows this event, having competed in the first timed derby in 2015, and it’ll be Soto who swiftly eliminates him in Round 2.
Olney: He’ll get the second-biggest ovation of the night, and all the players will surround him to congratulate him after an impressive first round. But he won’t survive a really tough matchup against Schwarber.
Passan: He will have a better showing than expected, which is to say his first-round matchup against Schwarber will not end with Schwarber having a minute-plus left on the clock. Pujols is too competitive, too prideful, to allow that. But in the end, he will get respect for having pushed the top seed … but not the W he desires.
Schoenfield: One and done. I mean, not one home run. He’ll crack a dozen in the first round, but Schwarber will knock him out.
What’s the one moment we’ll all be talking about long after this HR derby ends?
Gonzalez: The final round. Soto versus Alonso. Two division rivals going at it. The best pure hitter of this generation against one of the most illustrious derby competitors ever, in a rematch of last year’s semifinals from Coors Field. It was largely happenstance that Soto and Alonso wound up on opposite sides of this year’s bracket, and it will ultimately produce one of the most electrifying rounds this event has ever produced.
Olney: Soto shuffling and dropping his bat after he puts up a huge number in the championship round.
Passan: An Alonso-Rodriguez matchup in the semifinals would be everything: king vs. prodigy, right-handed thunder vs. right-handed thunder, a could-be coronation vs. a national coming-out party. While Rodriguez may draw the ire of the crowd for ousting Seager, a longtime Dodger, in the first round, he’ll win them back with a show in the next round … only to be thwarted by the champ not yet ready to cede his crown.
Schoenfield: How about a passing of the torch? Rodriguez was 6 months old when Pujols made his first All-Star Game as a rookie in 2001. Now we have the game’s next big star on center stage. They won’t face each other unless they meet in the final, but I’m sure at some point we’ll get a Pujols-Rodriguez embrace — one generation to the next.
Major League Basebal’s 2022 Home Run Derby is set for Monday night at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium. Headlining the eight-slugger field is New York Mets star Pete Alonso, who is trying to become the first hitter ever to win three consecutive Home Run Derbies (only Ken Griffey Jr. has three total Derby wins). Alonso prevailed in 2019 and last year (no All-Star events were held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).
Joining Alonso in this year’s field of eight are Juan Soto of the Nationals, Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Braves, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies, Albert Pujols of the Cardinals, Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez, José Ramírez of the Guardians, and former Dodger and current Ranger Corey Seager.
Here’s how you can watch this year’s Home Run Derby:
2022 Home Run Derby
Where: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles | When: 8 p.m. ET; Monday, July 18 TV channel: ESPN | Live stream: fuboTV (try for free) Highlights: CBS Sports HQ
Home Run Derby bracket
Participants are seeded for the opening round based on the number of home runs they hit this season as of July 13.
No. 1 Kyle Schwarber vs. No. 8 Albert Pujols
No. 2 Pete Alonso vs. No. 7 Ronald Acuña Jr.
No. 3 Corey Seager vs. No. 6 Julio Rodriguez
No. 4 Juan Soto vs. No. 5 José Ramírez
Home Run Derby format
Here’s how the Derby works these days:
Each contestant gets three minutes in the first and second rounds to hit as many home runs he can. Contestants in the finals, or the third round, get two minutes.
Each contestant gets a bonus of 30 seconds at the end of each regulation period, and that time can be increased to 60 seconds if the contestant hits a home run of at least 440 feet.
Each contestant gets one 45-second time out during each regulation period.
Any round ending in a tie will be decided by a 60-second “swing off” with no time outs or bonus time.
The winner gets $1 million of the $2.5 million prize pool.
Home Run Derby Odds
According to Caesars Sportsbook, Alonso is the favorite to take him that elusive third straight title. Here are the full odds for Monday’s showdown:
The price of RTX 30 series GPUs has been dropping like a rock the past few months. That’s a very good thing for us the consumers, since the starting price of these GPUs have been way higher than the original intended MSRP. For Amazon Prime Day, the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra video card has dropped to the lowest price we’ve seen since launch. It has been marked down to $779.99, below its MSRP of $919.99. Amazon has it for almost $100 cheaper than buying it directly from EVGA.
Amazon Prime Day Deals: EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Video Card for $779.99
The GeForce RTX 3080 GPU really doesn’t need any introduction. This is the de facto card to get if you plan to run current generation games at 4K, since it’s up to 50% faster than the previous generation RTX 2080 SUPER and doesn’t command the exorbitant price of the RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3090 (both of which are a mere 3%-5% faster in real world performance). It has an HDMI 2.1 port for passing through 4K @ 120Hz, which it has the power to drive even in resource hungry games like Elden Ring, Battlefield 2042 or Cyberpunk 2077.
EVGA’s FTW3 Ultra model comes equipped with a ridiculously large 2.7-slot heatsink with triple fan cooling and a protective metal backplate. This amount of dissipation allows the card to run cooler and quieter than the reference model RTX 3080 FE. This also enables the FTW3 Ultra model to have a modest 1800HZ Boost overclock compared to the stock 1710MHz Boost on the 3080 FE. Lastly and certainly the least important detail, let’s not forget about the RGB lighting. There’s enough there to make this card stand out in both traditional and vertical orientations.
Once Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty last year to 17 counts of murder in the first degree and other charges, prosecutors no longer had to prove at trial that he had committed the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. His culpability was settled.
What the plea did not settle was his sentence. In Florida, first-degree murder is a capital felony, punishable by either death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. And state law requires that a jury determine which it should be.
If the defendant had been convicted at trial, the same jury that handed up the verdict would have been retained for a separate sentencing proceeding. But when a defendant pleads guilty before trial to a capital felony, as Mr. Cruz did, the court must impanel a jury just for sentencing, unless the defendant waives the right to have a jury make the determination.
What the state does
The prosecution’s job now is to convince the jury that there are aggravating factors in the case that would warrant the death penalty. Among the possible aggravating factors listed in the law are:
That the killings were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel”;
That the defendant “knowingly created a great risk of death to many persons”;
That the defendant killed “in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.”
Prosecutors are expected to present extensive details of the 17 murders and 17 attempted murders at the high school, including hundreds of gruesome photographs and videos. The jury may also tour the school buildingwhere the shooting took place.
“They’re going to try to get these jurors to relive what happened to the victims,” said David S. Weinstein, a former prosecutor who is now a defense lawyer. “It’s going to be an emotional roller coaster.”
What the defense does
The defense will try to convince the jury that there are mitigating circumstances that would call for leniency. Under the law, those circumstances could include that the defendant “was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance” or had a diminished ability to understand whether his actions were criminal, among other factors.
The defense lawyers intend to show that Mr. Cruz, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, struggled with a difficult upbringing andmental health problems and had tried to get treatment. They have requested permission to show jurors a map of his brain, but the judge has yet to decide whether to allow it.
The jury’s task
After hearing the evidence, the jury must first decide whether the state has proved each of its claimed aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. For the defendant to be eligible for the death penalty, the jury must unanimously find at least one of the aggravating factors to be proved.
Next, the jury would consider whether the proven aggravating circumstances are sufficient to warrant a death sentence and outweigh any mitigating factors found to exist, and if they do, whether to recommend a death sentence to the court. To do so, the jury must again be unanimous; otherwise the sentencing recommendation must be for life in prison without possibility of parole.
The court cannot impose a death sentence if the jury has recommended life in prison, but it can set aside a jury’s recommendation of death and impose a life sentence instead.
A strange case
The need for a special sentencing jury is one of several ways the Parkland case is extremely unusual. It is rare for someone as young as Mr. Cruz (he is now 23) to face the death penalty, and even rarer for someone who has committed so deadly a mass shooting to still be alive afterward to face justice.
“In a sense, we are in completely uncharted waters,” said Robert M. Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Fla., who tracks mass killings. “You never get these kinds of trials, because the gunman is always dead.”
Yana Muravinets has helped evacuate more than 2,500 people from the Mykolaiv area while working with the Red Cross, though many people have chosen to stay.
The first person Yana Muravinets tried to persuade to leave her home near Ukraine’s front lines was a young woman who was five months pregnant.
She did not want to abandon her cows, her calf or her dog. She told Ms. Muravinets that she put energy and money into building her house near the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, and she was afraid of losing it.
“I said: ‘None of this will be necessary when you’re lying here dead,’” Ms. Muravinets said.
Since the early days of the war Ms. Muravinets, a 27-year-old photographer and videographer from the region, has taken up a new volunteer job with the Red Cross: encouraging people to evacuate. In phone calls, doorstep conversations, public speeches in village squares, sometimes even under fire, she has tried to convince Ukrainians that leaving everything behind is the only sure way to survive.
Persuading people to abandon all they have built in a lifetime is one of the many dreary jobs the war has created, and another challenge authorities have faced. While the city of Mykolaiv managed to push back Russian attacks early in the war, strikes have pummeled it and its region, bringing widespread death and destruction. Many residents have left, but hundreds of thousands are still there, and the mayor’s office has urged people to leave.
Ms. Muravinets, who has spent thousands of hours in recent months trying to make the case for evacuating, said she was unprepared for the task. She started having panic attacks, she said, but she felt she must keep going.
“The war isn’t ending and people just keep putting themselves in danger,” she said in a Zoom call from Mykolaiv that had to be cut short because of shelling. “If I can convince one person to leave, that’s already good.”
Boris Shchabelkyi, a coordinator of evacuations of people with disabilities who works alongside Ms. Muravinets, described her as a tireless worker, gentle with the people she needs to evacuate and “always in a good mood” with her colleagues.
With the Red Cross, she has helped evacuate more than 2,500 people, she said, but many have stayed, or returned a few days after they left. It took a month and a half to convince the young pregnant woman to flee, and she left only after her home’s windows were knocked out twice, Ms. Muravinets said.
“Especially when it’s safe, people think it’s fine and live under some illusion,” she said. “They decide to leave only when missiles come to their house.”
Damaged homes in Mykolaiv resulting from a deadly missile strike in late June.Credit…Laetitia Vancon for The New York Times
Ms. Muravinets has tried to persuade Ukrainians that leaving everything behind is often the only way to survive.Credit…Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
For two years before the war, Ms. Muravinets worked for Lactalis, a French dairy company with a plant in the area, and she toured farming villages to check milk quality.
Now that many country roads have become dangerous, she has reached remote villages, avoiding fire by using shortcuts she learned in her previous job. But now, she has to persuade dairy farmers to abandon their livelihoods.
“It’s the whole life for them,” she said. “They say: ‘How can I leave my cows? How can I leave my cows?’”
Before the war, she said a cow could cost up to $1,000. Now, people take them to slaughterhouses to get meat for a fraction of that.
Ms. Muravinets said some farmers who agreed to evacuate left the corrals open, so the animals would not starve, and cows, bulls and ducks now roamed village streets looking for food and water.
“The people who had money, opportunities, cars have already left,” Ms. Muravinets said. But others, living in bunkers for months, told her that they were ready to die there because they refused to leave.
She said she was staying for the same reason.
“The people who are left are those who are ready to sacrifice their lives.”
Valeriya Safronova contributed reporting from New York.