Hard Numbers: Russian troop surge at Ukraine border, Cuban asylum seekers, Chinese hackers target Japan, US updates ‘don’t travel’ list

Hard Numbers: Russian troop surge at Ukraine border, Cuban asylum seekers, Chinese hackers target Japan, US updates ‘don’t travel’ list
Armed servicemen wait in Russian army vehicles outside a Ukranian border guard post in the Crimean town of Balaclava.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria

120,000: Ukraine warns that Russia will soon have as many as 120,000 troops on its eastern border, a larger presence than when Moscow seized Crimea in 2014. Kyiv wants to join NATO to deter the Russian forces from invading the Donbas region, where about half the population are ethnic Russians.

16: Of the roughly 71,000 asylum seekers currently waiting in Mexico for US immigration authorities to process their applications, 16 percent are from Cuba. The majority are economic migrants escaping a pandemic-fueled economic crisis on the island reminiscent of the 1990s, when tens of thousands of Cubans fled to America following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

200: Japan is investigating cyberattacks against some 200 Japanese companies and organizations, which were allegedly carried out by hackers linked to the Chinese military. One of the targets was the Japanese space agency, JAXA.

80: The US plans to update its travel advisory list for Americans, now urging them to stay away from 80 percent of the world's 200 or so countries due to COVID. Non-resident US citizens are already not allowed to go to most European countries, while Washington has also banned most non-citizen travelers from Europe, Brazil, China, Iran, and South Africa.

More from GZERO Media

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani receives Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Doha, Qatar, earlier this month. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have now jointly agreed to pay off Syria's World Bank debt.
Amiri Diwan/Handout via REUTERS

The country's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa faces a tricky tradeoff when it comes to securing the country.

US President Donald Trump returns to the White House from his New Jersey golf club to Washington, DC, on April 27, 2024.

Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

With a cohesive team in the White House, Republican control of Congress, and a disoriented Democratic opposition, Donald Trump has pushed ahead rapidly on many fronts since inauguration. But opinion polls in recent weeks have shown a sharp decline in public support for the president, and the courts, financial markets, and other institutions have started curbing his actions. We asked Eurasia Group experts Clayton Allen and Noah Daponte-Smith where things are likely to go from here.

Rescuers search for a 17-year-old and his parents near an apartment building hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, on April 24, 2025.
REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that this week is “very critical” for Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Ukraine. Russia’s Vladimir Putin made news on Monday by offering a three-day ceasefire beginning on May 8, a move perhaps motivated by skeptical recent comments from Trump on Russia’s willingness to bargain in good faith.

- YouTube

On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, two authors—Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen and historian Mai Elliottwith deeply personal ties to the Vietnam War, reflect on its lasting global impact and Vietnam's remarkable rise 50 years later.