By KIM TONG-HYUNG

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. and South Korean militaries said on Wednesday they will conduct their annual springtime exercises next month to bolster their countries’ combined defense capabilities against a backdrop of a deepening diplomatic freeze with nuclear-armed North Korea.

The Freedom Shield drills is set for March 9-19, according to the announcement.

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North Korea has long described the allies ’ joint exercises as invasion rehearsals and used them as a pretext to dial up its own military demonstrations and weapons testing activity. The allies say the drills are defensive in nature.

The announcement came as North Korea is holding a major political conference where authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un is expected to outline his key domestic, foreign policy and military goals for the next five years. North Korean state media have not so far reported any direct comments by Kim on relations with Washington and Seoul at the ruling Workers’ Party congress, which began last week.

Based on recent public comments, experts say Kim could use the congress to further entrench his hard-line stance toward South Korea, reiterate calls for Washington to drop its demand for denuclearization as a precondition for renewed talks, and announce steps to simultaneously strengthen and integrate his nuclear and conventional forces.

Freedom Shield is one of two “command post” exercises that the allies conduct each year; the other is Ulchi Freedom Shield, held in August. The drills are largely computer-simulated and designed to test the allies’ joint operational capabilities while incorporating evolving war scenarios and security challenges.

As usual, the March drill will be accompanied by a field training program called Warrior Shield to enhance “training realism and combat readiness,” Col. Ryan Donald, public affairs director of U.S. Forces Korea, told a news conference.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said about 18,000 South Korean troops will participate in Freedom Shield while the U.S. military did not disclose how many American troops will be involved.

There has been speculation that the allies are seeking to tone down the drills to create conditions for dialogue with North Korea.

Liberal South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has expressed a desire for inter-Korean engagement, and some of his top officials have voiced hope that President Donald Trump’s expected visit to China in late March or April could open the door to renewed talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

Col. Jang Do-young, public affairs director of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the March exercises will not involve scenarios of a possible response to a North Korean nuclear attack but will include training aimed at “deterring nuclear threats.” He said the allies were still discussing the specifics of the field training program.

The rapid expansion in recent years of Kim’s nuclear weapons program — now featuring systems capable of threatening U.S. allies in Asia, as well as long-range missiles that could potentially reach the American homeland — has heightened South Korea’s security concerns while its diplomacy with Pyongyang remains stalled.

South Korea is also grappling with intensifying U.S.-China competition in the region, which has prompted Washington to press its ally to assume a greater share of the defense burden against North Korea as it focuses more on China.

North Korea has repeatedly rejected Washington and Seoul’s calls to resume diplomacy aimed at winding down its nuclear program, which derailed in 2019 following the collapse of Kim’s second summit with Trump during the American president’s first term.

Kim has now made Russia the priority of his foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for aid and military technology.

In a separate development, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said a pilot safely evacuated from a South Korean F-16 fighter jet that crashed on Wednesday evening into a mountain in the southeastern city of Yeongju during training.

The ministry said there were no immediate reports of casualties or civilian property damages and that the air force was investigating the crash.

By KAMILA HRABCHUK

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian delegation will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys in the run-up to another round of trilateral talks with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary, is due to hold talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Thursday in Geneva, Zelenskyy told reporters.

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A U.S. push for peace has already brought Russia and Ukraine to the table in Abu Dhabi and Geneva this year, but the talks have produced no breakthrough on bridging key differences as Russia’s invasion of its neighbor enters its fifth year.

Thursday’s meeting will address details of a possible postwar recovery plan for Ukraine and discuss preparations for an upcoming trilateral meeting with Moscow officials, Zelenskyy said, adding that he has also tasked Umerov with discussing a possible prisoner exchange.

Ukraine expects the U.S.-brokered talks with Russia to take place next week, Zelenskyy said.

Witkoff said Tuesday he would meet Umerov in Geneva for talks that could be followed by a trilateral meeting in Florida.

The Swiss city is also expected to host a round of nuclear talks on Thursday between the United States and Iran.

Previous talks with Russia and Ukraine have largely resolved the question of security guarantees, Witkoff said. Both sides are engaging with the peace efforts, with almost daily conversations taking place between officials, he said.

Washington is not pressuring Ukraine to concede on any point, and the Russians have shown “some moderation,” Witkoff told the Yalta European Strategy — an international annual leaders’ forum organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv.

On Tuesday, amid events marking the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Zelenskyy noted that Russia has not defeated Ukraine nor broken the Ukrainian spirit, despite Moscow’s bigger and better equipped army and heavy bombardment of civilian areas.

Ukrainian forces have in recent months pushed Russia’s army back at points along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line in eastern areas of the country, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

The “significant gains” are the biggest since 2024, the Washington-based think tank said, though they are unlikely to grow into major offensives as Ukraine struggles with a troop shortage. Even so, they likely will disrupt Russian plans for a spring-summer offensive, it said.

A woman sits in front of a grave of her relative during a memorial service for fallen Ukrainian soldiers during a ceremony to mark the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Bucha, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Ukraine has also continued its almost nightly long-range drone barrage of military and allied infrastructure targets deep inside Russia.

The U.S. State Department has expressed its displeasure with Ukraine’s recent attacks on the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea that have impacted U.S. oil interests in Kazakhstan, Kyiv’s chief envoy to Washington said Tuesday.

Four workers at the Dorogobuzh fertilizer plant, in western Russia’s Smolensk region, were killed on Wednesday in a Ukrainian drone attack that caused a fire and injured another 10 people, Gov. Vasily Anokhin said.

Ukrainian authorities said Russia attacked with 115 drones overnight, including one strike on a village in the southern Zaporizhzhia district that killed four people and injured a child, the State Emergency Service said.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

By ALI SWENSON

NEW YORK (AP) — Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer, author and entrepreneur aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again movement, will appear before the Senate health committee on Wednesday as she seeks approval to be the nation’s surgeon general.

The Washington confirmation hearing was rescheduled from last October, when Means went into labor the day she was set to appear. It will give the 38-year-old nominee an opportunity to share her vision for ending chronic disease by addressing its root causes, including through dietary and lifestyle changes. It’s a message that dovetails with that of the nation’s health department, which has shifted its focus away from its controversial vaccine policy changes and toward healthy eating as the midterm elections approach.

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But Means also will likely face tough questions about her qualifications and potential conflicts. The Stanford-educated physician’s disillusionment with traditional medicine drove her to a career in which she has promoted a wide range of products, at times without disclosing how she could benefit financially.

As the nation’s doctor, the surgeon general is a leader for Americans and health officials on public health issues. If confirmed, Means would be empowered to issue advisories that warn of public health threats. She also would be tasked with promoting Kennedy’s sprawling MAHA agenda, which calls for removing thousands of additives from U.S. foods, rooting out conflicts of interest at federal agencies and promoting healthier foods in school lunches and other nutrition programs.

Surgeons general also have sometimes used the office to advocate on issues related to vaccination — though the office has no role in creating vaccine policy. Means has mostly steered clear of Kennedy’s debunked views on vaccines but has called for more investigations into their safety.

Means has no government experience, and her license to practice as a physician is not currently active. After graduating from medical school at Stanford University with a doctor of medicine degree, she dropped out of her surgical residency program at Oregon Health and Science University in 2018. She has cited her belief that the health care system was broken and exploitative as the reason for her withdrawal.

Means then turned to alternative approaches to address what she has described as widespread metabolic dysfunction driven largely by poor nutrition and an overabundance of ultraprocessed foods.

Because she had completed enough postgraduate training to obtain a medical license, she did so and started her own functional medicine practice in Oregon, which later closed. She co-founded Levels, a nutrition-, sleep- and exercise-tracking app that also can give users insights from blood tests and continuous glucose monitoring.

Financial disclosures show she made hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting health and wellness products, including specialty basil seed supplements, teas and elixirs, probiotic products and a prepared meal delivery service. An Associated Press investigation found that while recommending these products, she at times failed to disclose that she could profit or benefit from the sales.

In an ethics filing, Means said that if she is confirmed for the post by the full Senate, she will resign from her position with Levels and forfeit or divest stock options and stock in the company. She also pledged to stop working for Rupa, a specialty lab work company for which she developed an online course. While she may continue receiving royalty payments from her book “Good Energy,” she will not promote it, the filing said.

The filing also noted she will “not acquire any direct financial interest in entities listed on the Food and Drug Administration’s prohibited holdings list.”

At least two previous surgeons general have publicly suggested Means is not fit for the job.

In an op-ed in The Hill last May, former Bush administration surgeon general Dr. Rich Carmona wrote that Means’ professional qualifications “raise significant concerns.” Later that month, President Donald Trump’s first-term surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, wrote on the social platform X that the surgeon general’s traditional leadership of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps requires a medical license.

Means is seeking to join an administration for which her brother, Calley Means, already works. As a senior adviser to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he has helped promote the Republican administration’s message about the dangers of ultraprocessed foods.

The nomination for Trump’s first pick for surgeon general, former Fox News Channel medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, was withdrawn after she came under criticism from the president’s allies. Means was nominated to the role last May.

Ask not what you’re able to traverse, but what those least capable are

I am able bodied but have combat related PTSD and have a service animal.  I use ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) seating a lot and as a result have become an amateur proponent for disability rights.

There is a multi-family property I walk by every day that does not maintain its sidewalks well. There are five other properties on the street and all those sidewalks are very well maintained. On the property in question, snow/ice built up on the northeast corner that would prevent anyone in a wheelchair or other mobility device from easily transitioning to/from the sidewalk and street. Another area has piled snow completely blocking the sidewalk. There is standing water or glare ice, depending on the weather, on another portion.

On Jan. 5 I notified the city of this via the online complaint system.  A few days later I got a response stating a letter would be sent to the property and subsequent fines would happen if not corrected. When no changes to the property occurred, I sent two more complaints to the city that went unanswered.

After almost a month from my initial complaint, I sent an email to Mayor Her’s office pointing out the failure in this city service. I got no response. I sent an email to my council member, who forwarded my email to the same office I filed my initial complaints to. Over five weeks after my initial complaint, the problem had not been resolved. I’m at a loss for understanding how a city that gets as much snowfall as it does does not have better ways to compel a property to maintain clear sidewalks.

If you are responsible for a property, I ask you to consider not what you are able to traverse, but what those least capable are able to. Contrary to the response, or lack thereof, of the city and some of its leaders, it’s the law.

Ryan Radunzel, St. Paul

The attitude of legacy media

As a longtime Pioneer Press subscriber, I look forward to the Sunday edition; the frequent inclusion of Soucheray columns; and, a couple of syndicated columns on subjects of national interest.

As to inclusion of The Los Angeles Times film critic Amy Nicholson’s column on the “Melania” film — I consider her column to be deservedly undistinguished. Although, she does well document the attitude and culture of America’s legacy media.

A few extracts from Nicholson’s column:

–A vapid, airless, mindless time-waster

— Trump getting to actually make public eye contact with his wife

— Baron’s goodbye, as he turns his back to lope down a hallway

— a black comedy, perhaps?

— a metaphor for Melania herself: a gown constructed with no visible seams

— the feel of a soothingly looped AI screen saver, a trance-inducing spell

— there is a truth in her SUV-to-tarmac-to-SUV-to-tarmac insularity.

God Bless America.

Gene Delaune, Arden Hills

Sainted

A big shout out and Thank You to Good Samaritan Elizabeth of Roseville for helping my auntie after she fell and did a slow slide down her front steps.

On Jan. 16 I took my 83-year-old aunt fabric shopping. We had a pleasant morning shopping, lunch, and I drove her home. When climbing the stairs, she missed the handrailing and fell backward, landing on the sidewalk.

Elizabeth was walking by with her dog and asked if we needed help, which we did. She was trained in safe, medical lifting and  instructed my aunt what to do. With Elizabeth ‘s calm coaching and direction, my aunt was able to get her knees and feet in place to be able to stand. We were very thankful for Elizabeth’s help. My aunt is fine and busy sewing baby blankets.

So thankful for the help,

Liz Biagi, North St. Paul

Sainted

To Regions Hospital Cancer Center, once again I feel compelled to express my most sincere and heartfelt thanks for the wonderful and professional treatment that I’ve received therein. We are indeed privileged to have such a wonderful medical facility in our midst.

The wonderful and professional doctors, nurses, medical technicians, and other support personnel are like a well-oiled machine; each knowing her/his responsibility and executing their training and skills perfectly! How thankful I am for their ability to enhance my quality of life dealing with multiple cancers. From day one of my diagnosis and treatments, without them and their compassion more than likely you would be reading my obituary.

To Dr. Kumar, my primary oncologist, my deepest gratitude for your exceptional care. Your expertise and, more importantly, your compassionate approach have made a profound impact on my palliative treatment journey. I truly believe that I am in the best hands possible.

To the oncology nurses/staff, especially Kathy, Kaitlin and Anne, and of course Rachel, the dedicated RNs in the infusion center,  words alone cannot express how thankful I am for your kindness during my treatments and beyond. You turn a very scary and difficult time into a more manageable experience with your warmth, patience and smiles.

As I reflect on my journey, I am filled with gratitude for the incredible care I receive from the Cancer Center and this team.Their dedication to not just treating the cancers, but caring for me as a person, has meant the world.

Mike Howard, St. Paul

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