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Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Wednesday.

1. President Biden’s visit to Europe ended with a show of support for NATO’s eastern flank.

The U.S. president wrapped up his three-day tour of Europe by vowing to defend any NATO ally against Russian aggression. Some 700 miles away, Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, hosted Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, at the Kremlin — underscoring how close Beijing and Moscow continue to be.

Also in Moscow, tens of thousands of people gathered in 7-degree weather at Russia’s largest stadium for an event called “Glory to the Defenders of the Fatherland.” While performers sang, spectators watched videos of soldiers fighting and images of destroyed buildings.

On the ground in Ukraine, a barrage of Russian missiles struck the city of Kharkiv today, as Ukraine’s military appeared to step up its assaults on positions deep into Russian-held territory.

In other news from the war, Poland, having been proved right about Russia, has found its voice.

2. At least 10 Palestinians were killed during an Israeli raid.

An hourslong gunfight broke out this morning between Israeli security forces and armed Palestinian groups in the West Bank city of Nablus, leaving more than 100 Palestinians wounded. The Israeli military was conducting an operation to arrest Palestinian gunmen.

Three armed Palestinian groups said that six casualties were fighters in their movements. Others appeared to be noncombatants: Time-stamped footage that circulated on social media seemed to show the shooting of at least two unarmed Palestinians, as they ran away from gunfire.

The incident left the region bracing for further unrest. Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, warned that the killings would not pass “without a response.”

3. A major winter storm is taking hold of the Western U.S.

More than two million Americans were placed under blizzard warnings for this week, some in places you might expect (like Minnesota), and others you probably wouldn’t (such as the mountains around Los Angeles).

The storm brought a mix of wintry weather to the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest today. More than 1,500 U.S. flights were canceled, and more than 4,000 were delayed. Here is footage of the rough conditions.

Much of the eastern half of the country is basking in springlike weather. New York City and other nearby cities are experiencing some of their least snowy seasons in the past 50 years.

For more: Here’s how much snow is expected to fall where you live.

4. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating Donald Trump.

The special counsel, Jack Smith, called for the former president’s daughter and son-in-law to testify before a federal grand jury about Trump’s efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election and about his role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Coming two weeks after it was revealed that Smith had subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence, the disclosure is another sign that no high-level witness is off limits.

In other politics news, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court primary proved to be a best-case scenario for the state’s Democrats.

Also, the 2024 presidential campaign could be considered halfway done, Nate Cohn explains.

5. Farm owners near the Ohio train derailment worry about their future.

Along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, farms were blanketed early this month by plumes of smoke after officials burned off the toxic chemical cargo of a freight train that had careened off its tracks. One farmer found newly laid chicken eggs with an unsettling purple hue.

Federal officials said that initial tests had found the air and water to be safe, but many residents remained fearful for their safety and that of their livestock. The derailment upended a region where generations of families could afford to buy acres of land, plant gardens and live in relative tranquillity.

In East Palestine, Trump, seeking to draw a contrast with Biden and other Democrats, visited the site of the derailment today.

6. The hometown that drew Jimmy Carter back has been gripped by a somber wait.

Plains — a tiny Georgia town, population 550 — has always been Carter’s home. He was raised there; he returned there after serving in the Navy; he began his political career there; and, after a stinging defeat that ousted him from the White House, he reinvented himself there through decades of community work.

Now, in what appears to be Carter’s final chapter, and as news cameras pour into town, Plains is keeping vigil for the man whom neighbors call “Mr. Jimmy.” Representatives for the former president said he entered hospice care last weekend in the home he has shared with his wife, Rosalynn, for many years just off Main Street.

For more: Our health desk explains what hospice care entails.

7. How healthy is your gut microbiome?

Recent social media trends have sparked an interest in gut health, but many people remain unaware of what exactly goes on inside our digestive system.

So we compiled the top 15 questions that people had on the topic — regarding heartburn, stress, spicy foods, colon cleanses and more — and brought them to the experts. Here’s everything you’ve wanted to know about the wild world inside your gut.

In other health news, regulators are concerned about Big Soda’s turn to alcoholic beverages.

8. When the movies imagined A.I., they pictured the wrong disaster.

From “Frankenstein” to “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Terminator,” we’ve long frightened and titillated ourselves with tales of our inventions coming to life.

But unlike the chilling rationality of HAL 9000 or the imperial intelligence of Skynet, our film critic A.O. Scott writes, our current A.I. technology — and all of its flaws — is a reflection of human messiness. Microsoft’s Sydney derives its information from what we put on the internet: deceit, irrationality and plain old meanness.

In other entertainment news, Jessica Chastain returned to Broadway without props, period costumes or much of a set. She likes it.

9. An 85-year-old painter on the cutting edge of digital art.

David Hockney has long embraced technology in his works: Polaroids, fax machines, a smartphone. Now he’s going much bigger.

In Hockney’s newest show, paintings are beamed onto the walls of the venue, surrounding and engulfing the viewer. At other moments, Hockney’s animated brushwork appears on the walls one stroke at a time, until a painting becomes gloriously whole.

Immersive art extravaganzas featuring Dalí, Matisse, or Van Gogh have mushroomed around the globe, to the derision of critics. But Hockney is confident that his spectacle is different. “They’re dead,” Hockney said. “I’m a living artist, so I’ve come in and actually done things.”

10. And finally, Starbucks bets on the combination of two very Italian ingredients.

The American coffee chain is testing out a new ingredient that it believes will draw the Italian masses to Starbucks coffee: olive oil.

The coffee giant’s new drinks, branded Oleato (which can mean oiled, oleate or greaseproof in Italian), were offered at the company’s flagship Italian venue in downtown Milan for the first time today. Among the five oily options: a golden foam espresso martini.

Whether the buzz generated from the launch will sustain Italian interest in the Oleato remains to be seen. But, to be fair, people have been drinking coffee with butter for a while now.

Have an inventive night.

Elizabeth Bristow compiled photos for this briefing.

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