Happy Thursday! TMD is, of course, primarily a Bears and Cubs newsletter, but we’d be remiss not to highlight what DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls are doing right now: It’s not every day you surpass Wilt Chamberlain to set an NBA scoring record!

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• A senior Biden administration official told reporters last night that, contrary to the Kremlin’s claims of de-escalation, Russia has actually increased its military presence along the Ukrainian border in recent days by as many as 7,000 troops. “Every indication we have now is they mean only to publicly offer to talk and make claims about de-escalation while privately mobilizing for war,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “We continue to receive indications that they could launch a false pretext at any moment to justify an invasion of Ukraine.”

• Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said yesterday the distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyberattack that hit and temporarily shut down the country’s defense agencies, government services, and financial institutions this week was “the largest [such attack] in the history of Ukraine.” Officials said it was too early to confirm who was behind the attack, but hinted it was likely Russia attempting to destabilize the country and sow panic.

• An American Navy aircraft in recent days had an “extremely close” encounter with multiple Russian military jets over the Mediterranean Sea, CNN reported Wednesday.  U.S. officials described the provocation as “unsafe and unprofessional.” Pentagon spokesman Cpt. Mike Kafka said the Defense Department had “made our concerns known to Russian officials through diplomatic channels.”