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RJ Scaringe gives behind-the-scenes look at Rivian’s factory in Normal, Illinois

Rivian has released a new video giving us a behind-the-scenes look at how they build the R1T, R1S, and electric delivery vans (EDV) at their factory in Normal, Illinois.

The tour is hosted by CEO RJ Scaringe who walks through different part of the factory and describes the processes that take place at each stage.

We get to see the stamping shop with six large presses that make all of the panels for each of Rivian’s vehicles in-house.

There is also a tour of the two body shops, one for the R1 class of EVs with another for the commercial delivery van. A separate body shop is needed due to the differences in size between the body panels of the two classes of vehicles, and was built using learnings from the R1 body shop.

The paint shop is also featured, showing how their machines are canister-based thereby eliminating the need to purge the system between colour changes. The paint shop also electrostatically coats the skateboard platforms and battery enclosures.

We then get to the see the general assembly and final inspection before the EVs are ready to be delivered to customers.

You can check out the full video below.

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Rivian Factory Tour Footage

Nice videos of the stamping plant and body shops. Didn't know Rivian was stamping some of their own parts. That will help in controlled dimensional quality. Still would be neat to see GA (general assembly) and Final Line inspection. Thanks for the post!  

Thats absolutely amazing to see , feel like Christmas is coming. Can watch over and over again .  

Very cool experience but I was hoping to see some demonstrations or them present certain things.  

So, I have learned from this that they can only produce a side panel for R1T. Not even one car is being produced during these videos.  

CommodoreAmiga

Mark Redo said: So, I have learned from this that they can only produce a side panel for R1T. Not even one car is being produced during these videos. Click to expand...

Correct. Stamping shops run parts in batches. We are talking THOUSANDS of part in a run, then change die, home line it gauge check the first off piece, and repeat the process. Not to mention that I doubt Rivian is 100% stamping ALL their metal parts. That would be a massive stamping plant. So some of the parts / components are probably outsourced by Tier 1 suppliers.  

Although somewhat cool, the tour looks so staged! I've toured auto assembly lines when I purchased my sportscar, and I saw line workers more productive when building all hand-built cars! (Less-Stagging, More-Working).  

CommodoreAmiga said: They don't produce each part for a single vehicle, sequentially. I believe it's common for manufacturers to stamp parts in batches. There is overhead in swapping dies, so they'll load the dies and stamp a bunch of left sides, for example. Then when they have enough (I'm sure a team figures out the optimal number to maximize efficiency and cost) they'll swap dies and stamp another part. Click to expand...

Mark Redo said: Sorry, but still doesn't explain why 90% of the machinery during the tour was out of use. I thought they produce vehicles there not only stamping body shells. Click to expand...

CommodoreAmiga said: The factory isn't at 100%. Maybe you haven't heard, but deliveries were delayed. They've got some big machinery that is non-functional and COVID logistics complications have made repairs take a long time, so processes are slower and more manual. They're also building vehicles with non-production VINs in groups of only 15. Then they regroup to discuss/analyze and hone in their processes. They're not running the entire line. I'm sure the factory is no where near as chaotic as it could be, if production was moving at full speed. Click to expand...

Mark Redo said: I don't think you know how it works. VW had 300.000 ID.3 Ready in May for lunch in September. If the only thing they can do is stamp the body panels 2 weeks before deliveries. Don't expect this to be ready before Xmas. Click to expand...

Ticarterdaniell

JimmyEV said: Check out this footage from inside the Rivian factory in Normal, Illinois from a tour Rivian held. Click to expand...

The other thing that could be going on that is completely reasonable is that when you get to actually building your pre-productions test vehicles from an assembly line, the Rivian folks are seeing things and issues they never dreamt of when they hand built these vehicles and designed them on a computer. Most auto companies that 3-6 months to sllloooooowwwly ramp up production of a new vehicle. And that comes from an assembly plant that is already set up to run vehicles. The only comparable thing I can think of is GM (Factory Zero) in Detroit. It was building Volts. Now it was shut down and being retooled to build the BT1XX program (Hummer truck). This is a completely different sized vehicle and different content. And even with GM's manufacturing might, those vehicles are not going to hit showrooms until 2022 (at the earliest). So what is the morale of my story? Give Rivian time to work out all the issues because the last thing any of us early adopters want is a truck wit ha lot of defect and shoddy workmanship in our garages.  

ERivTruck said: And even with GM's manufacturing might, those vehicles are not going to hit showrooms until 2022 (at the earliest). Click to expand...

This thread is all speculation. They could have been in the plant touring during a planned (and even extended) shift break. Let's not forget this whole pre-order tour event was HIGHLY INTENTIONAL. Their value equation to take certain functions in the facility off-line intentionally could also have been for safety reasons, or to protect IP. People don't just get to stroll through manufacturing facilities or assembly lines. So many assumptions being trolled through this thread. LOL  

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Keep The World Adventurous Forever.

Magic occurs when people from different worlds surround a challenge from all sides. The carbonization of the atmosphere presents a great threat to humanity and all life on earth. As complex as it may sound, we already have everything we need to create change. It starts with harnessing the very thing every human being is born with — an adventurous spirit. At Rivian, we believe in this potential so strongly, we made it our company mission: Keep the World Adventurous Forever.

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The strength of the organization we build, the culture we build together, that’s the only real long-term sustainable competitive advantage. - RJ, Founder and CEO

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How Georgia landed ‘transformational’ $5B Rivian plant

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

In late October, Gov. Brian Kemp had just finished up a meeting in Columbus when he received an urgent call. The top executives of Rivian, the fast-growing electric vehicle manufacturer, were ready to tour the vast industrial land the state was pitching for a factory. And they wanted to come soon.

Early the morning of Oct. 20, Kemp helicoptered to the East Atlanta Mega Site for a 30-minute meeting with Rivian Chief Executive RJ Scaringe that would help seal the deal for a $5 billion plant that Kemp is calling the largest single economic development project in state history.

“I don’t think we were on their mind early on. All we were trying to do is get them to Georgia, to show them the site and sell them on what we’ve got,” he said in an interview. “We knew if we could get them here, we could make a good case. And that’s what happened.”

It was the tail end of a crusade to win the state’s first auto manufacturing facility since Kia planted roots in Georgia in 2006 — and the product of decades of groundwork by local leaders, business recruiters and political officials.

There are still many questions that remain about the sprawling site, including the political fallout of the deal and the bounty of incentives that it took to woo the project and the 7,500 jobs it promises to create.

But as the governor joined his wife Marty ahead of a celebratory press conference Thursday, he admitted he might be just as relieved as he was excited.

“I am just glad we got to the finish line,” he said.

A ‘jewel’ uncovered

The state’s pursuit of Rivian began more than a year ago, but the roots of the project go far deeper. A Joint Development Authority was created in the late 1990s to partner with private developers to create Stanton Springs, a successful bio-science research park where four counties meet about an hour’s drive east of Atlanta.

Encouraged by the venture, the authority joined with county leaders to assemble a pair of new mega-sites, including 2,000 acres north of Stanton Springs along I-20 where Rivian will locate its facility.

David Bernd, a former Newton County Chamber of Commerce executive, said the four county partners —Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton — dreamed of luring an automaker there, though they knew it wouldn’t be an easy sell.

But the region has I-20, major freight rail lines and is close to Atlanta.

“We’ve got all the components to knock it out of the park,” Bernd said.

Susan Holmes was mayor of the nearby town of Monticello during that time, and she helped convene regional meetings to plot strategy to win major projects.

“We were desperate for jobs and development in our community,” said Holmes, now a state legislator. “We called Jasper County the rural jewel, but we had not yet been discovered. We knew we had to join with other counties to promote ourselves.”

That effort picked up six years ago, when local economic development officials arranged a half-dozen tours of the Kia factory in West Point with community leaders.

Randy Jackson, who was then Kia’s top executive in Georgia, told the group they needed to improve schools and training to win a plant. One of Bernd’s takeaways from the tours: Local graduation rates and training offered at a nearby technical college wouldn’t cut it.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

New investments in education helped boost the area’s graduation rates, and the state financed an advanced manufacturing facility at Georgia Piedmont Technical College.

At the same time, local officials began assembling ever-larger tracts of land big enough to accommodate a massive plant. The land was pitched to a joint venture by Toyota-Mazda, which went to Alabama, and Volvo, which spurned Georgia to build instead in South Carolina. More recently, it was also a finalist for a Tesla facility that was awarded to Texas.

Then Rivian came calling.

“I think all those payoffs over the last eight or nine years have gotten us over the hump,” Bernd said.

‘Fast as hell’

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in July that Georgia was courting the company. Attention at the time was on another state mega-site along I-16 near Savannah, even as state officials also pitched sites in the Atlanta area. East Atlanta Megasite’s proximity to Atlanta and its rich talent pool appears to have outweighed the I-16 site’s access to the Savannah and Brunswick seaports.

When Kemp was informed that Rivian was scouting the site near Social Circle over the summer, he didn’t need a primer on the emerging tech company. He had read plenty about the Wall Street darling that’s seen by many as a top rival to Tesla.

Rivian was looking to build a second factory to complement its plant in Illinois, and the automaker was scouting Arizona, Texas and other states for the multibillion-dollar investment.

And Pat Wilson, the state’s top economic development recruiter, persuaded the firm’s leaders to fly to Georgia on Aug. 24. Kemp wanted to meet them personally when they arrived.

After some small talk at a Midtown office, the governor launched into a pitch focused on Georgia’s well-regarded workforce training programs and the mega-site’s location near rail lines, I-20 and about 50 miles from Atlanta’s airport.

“They weren’t worried about glamour and show,” he said of Rivian executives. “They wanted to talk business.”

He also cited the state’s broader push to lure EV companies as the automotive sector shifts away from gas vehicles. A new statewide initiative Kemp launched promised to tackle supply chain issues in the nascent industry, and he pointed to the massive SK Innovation battery-making plant under construction in northeast Georgia.

The negotiations continued from there, as Georgia readied plans for an on-site workforce training facility and an incentive package that Wilson said largely mirrors the bounty of perks offered to Kia, which totaled more than $400 million.

Then came the October call that Rivian’s top executives were ready to take the next step and tour the site. When Kemp arrived by helicopter at the site the next morning, he was greeted by Scaringe — and one of the high-powered electric trucks the company makes.

The governor took a ride with Scaringe and then got behind the wheel. His initial impression: “That damn truck is fast as hell.”

After they took a spin, the two got down to business.

“It’s not like this is the first deal where we competed with Texas,” he said. “We’ve got jobs tax credits in the statutes, other tools at our disposal. But what I focused on was speed to market and the workforce that we could help train. Those were the biggest selling points.”

Shane Short, executive director of the joint development authority, said after the meeting with Kemp ended, Scaringe and the Rivian team stayed on the site for hours and discussed ways to minimize the factory’s environmental impact.

“He wasn’t the kind of guy where you sit across a table with attorneys and they grill you,” Short said of Scaringe. “He’s personable and we had a casual conversation the entire time. He wanted to know about the community.”

It took weeks of negotiations after that meeting to finalize the deal. All the while, the local economic development agency continued to approach local property owners to offer to buy their land near the site, according to five people who spoke to the AJC.

A key part of the site belongs to the family of Alan Verner, a former chairman of the authority.

And state transportation officials drafted potential plans to add lanes to surrounding roads and a new interchange on I-20 to serve the new factory.

Kemp said when Rivian’s agreement was substantially completed a few weeks ago, he felt a wave of relief.

“You were very excited, too,” his wife Marty added.

“I was,” Kemp said. “These are generational, transformational projects.”

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Who Will Survive a Shakeout in the Electric Vehicle Market?

May 28, 2024 • 6 min read.

The edge goes to vertically integrated EV makers like Tesla and China’s BYD, along with legacy automakers and well-funded startups, according to Wharton’s John Paul MacDuffie.

The ongoing deceleration in demand for electric vehicles is an early warning signal of a shakeout in the nascent industry, according to Wharton management professor John Paul MacDuffie , who is also director of Wharton’s Program on Vehicle and Mobility Innovation . EV leader Tesla is laying off more than a tenth of its global workforce, and other manufacturers like Lucid and Rivian have reported losses. Government subsidies have helped cushion those impacts, and more support by way of higher tariffs on imported EVs is on the way.

“What’s going on with electrification transition and the demand for electric vehicles … is a reset that’s almost like the starting up of a new industry,” MacDuffie said on the Wharton Business Daily radio show that airs on SiriusXM. ( Listen to the podcast .) He pointed to predictions of a shakeout and consolidation within China’s EV industry , and said, “I’m sure we’ll see it here [in the U.S.], too.”

For sure, any new industry will see many casualties as it evolves. “One out of 10 is considered a decent success ratio for entrepreneurial ventures of any kind,” especially in industries such as EVs that call for large capital requirements, MacDuffie said.

Vertical Integration Is Key to Success

According to MacDuffie, vertically integrated EV makers like Tesla and China’s BYD can ride out a shakeout because they control large parts of their supply chains. Tesla, for instance, makes EV batteries and has invested in battery storage; it also coped with the recent global semiconductor shortage by redesigning its software to support alternative chips, as a Forbes report pointed out. “You have more control, you can present a more coherent product and a more coherent brand and identity if you control the whole [manufacturing chain],” MacDuffie said.

Among the likely EV casualties that MacDuffie pointed to is Fisker, which appears to be on the verge of bankruptcy . But he expected Rivian, another startup that is also facing challenges, to survive, because it has an “appealing product that’s been well received,” which will help it continue to draw investment.

“You have more control, you can present a more coherent product and a more coherent brand and identity if you control the whole [manufacturing chain].” — John Paul MacDuffie

Legacy Automakers Have an Advantage

Established automakers with EV products have another advantage over EV startups in that they can ride out the current demand slowdown by shifting to hybrid vehicles, MacDuffie noted. Several legacy automakers such as General Motors , Honda, Toyota, and Ford have taken such a portfolio approach to increase their hybrid offerings.

Established automakers have another advantage over EV startups. “They already know how to do the design, the build, the supply chain, and the distribution,” MacDuffie continued. They also have the wherewithal to cross-subsidize their forays into new technology such as EVs, he added. “They can keep selling their existing product line and use those profits to cross-subsidize. That advantage is not available to a startup.” Such an advantage is especially useful when technology transitions get complicated or when demand growth slows down, he noted.

The demand slowdown hasn’t deterred new EV startups, especially those based on autonomous vehicle technology. MacDuffie pointed to Amazon subsidiary Zoox, an autonomous electric vehicle firm that is aiming for the robotaxi market. Another well-heeled EV startup is Aurora , an autonomous trucking company with backing from both Amazon and Toyota. “Where there’s a deep-pocketed investor that has a stake in you continuing, then you’re more likely to make it through this period of ferment than if you’re simply relying on the public markets,” MacDuffie said.

Building Supply Chains from Scratch

Unlike with consumer electronics where an Apple could tap into an existing supply chain, the EV industry didn’t have “a bunch of contract manufacturing capacity sitting around just waiting for a great car design” that somebody comes up with, MacDuffie noted. The EV industry has faced hurdles in building out that supply chain from scratch. It has been hard for EV companies to obtain debt financing or venture capital financing because of the long wait before they can roll out their products and make profits, he explained.

As a consequence, companies like Tesla and Rivian have had to rely on the public capital markets to finance those investments, but that has made them particularly sensitive to the expectations of equity investors, MacDuffie noted. “Investors and everyone watching the stock market are hanging on every announcement about your sales. Anytime you don’t meet a sales projection, the stock tanks.” Not surprisingly, the drop in demand for EVs has hurt the stock prices of Tesla, Rivian and Nio.

“Where there’s a deep-pocketed investor that has a stake in you continuing, then you’re more likely to make it through this period of ferment than if you’re simply relying on the public markets.” — John Paul MacDuffie

Policy Support Vital for EV Makers

Government support has been crucial for the EV industry in these trying times. “If there were not government subsidies and priorities to advance the electrification transition, then I don’t think you would see all of the world’s automakers making big strategic bets on electrification, and you wouldn’t see as many startups either,” MacDuffie said. “They have the confidence that this transition will happen with so much government push behind it.”

At the same time, EV makers in the U.S. face a degree of policy uncertainty unlike their counterparts in China which has a “unidirectional government,” MacDuffie noted. “In the U.S., if there’s a change in political party, and a change in who’s in the White House, then we may see policy swings much more,” he said. “It makes American EV companies subject to more volatility and more risk because, what if all the subsidies are taken away all of a sudden in a few years?”

On a recent trip to Germany, MacDuffie found that EV makers there are confident that their policymakers are committed to supporting the electrification of transportation; they are therefore surer of making their investments.

MacDuffie said the impending consolidation among EV makers is a familiar theme for the auto industry. He recalled that after the birth of the auto industry in the early 1900s, there were hundreds of auto companies, but they consolidated into five or six companies in the 1920s and 1930s, and eventually into the Big Three of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler (now part of Stellantis).

As the EV industry braces for a shakeout, financial staying power will make the difference. “Anybody who succeeds in persuading the various sources of capital to come together, as Elon Musk did very well from lots of sources [for Tesla], you have more chance to survive,” he continued. “But any time you lose one of those incoming streams of capital, boy, you’re much more on the edge.”

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Rivian CEO Warns Of Rocky Road Ahead As Production Revamp To Cause 'Messy' Q2

Rivian Automotive, Inc . (NASDAQ:RIVN) CEO R.J. Scaringe cautioned investors on Thursday that the second quarter of 2024 could be challenging due to production disruptions .

What Happened: Scaringe, speaking at Bernstein’s 40th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, said the EV company is experiencing a slowdown in the second quarter due to a production shutdown in early April implemented to integrate new equipment and hundreds of robots at Rivian’s Normal, Illinois factory.

"From an investor perspective, the second quarter's going to be messy," the CEO said as reported by Electrek .

These upgrades are expected to increase the R1 production line rate by about 30% and incorporate cost-saving changes to the vehicle, as detailed by Scaringe during Rivian’s first-quarter earnings call earlier this month.

Impact On Investors: The R1 is Rivian’s only current consumer vehicle (besides delivery vans). The company plans to begin production of the R2 , a smaller and more affordable SUV priced around $45,000 — competing with Tesla’s Model Y — at the same Illinois facility in the first half of 2026. Rivian received a strong initial response to the R2, with over 68,000 reservations within 24 hours of its unveiling in March.

Despite exceeding analyst expectations for first-quarter revenue, Rivian reported a net loss worse than feared. The company also lost $38,784 on each vehicle delivered in Q1. However, Rivian maintains its target of producing 57,000 vehicles in 2024 and achieving a positive gross margin by the fourth quarter.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by  following this link .

Read More: Tesla, Ford Hit The Brakes In UK As Warren Buffett-Backed BYD Zooms Ahead With 2500% Jump In Registration

Image made via photos on Flickr and Shutterstock

© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

This article Rivian CEO Warns Of Rocky Road Ahead As Production Revamp To Cause 'Messy' Q2 originally appeared on Benzinga.com .

Tesla dangles chance at a factory tour with Elon Musk to get shareholder votes on $55 billion pay

• Tesla is offering a potential Gigafactory tour with Elon Musk to shareholders who vote in its annual meeting.
• 15 investors will be chosen at random for the tour, Tesla said.
• The vote will address proposals regarding Musk's pay plan and moving Tesla's incorporation to Texas.

Tesla is offering shareholders the opportunity to tour its Texas Gigafactory alongside Elon Musk and the designer of the Cybertruck Franz von Holzhausen — there's just one catch.

To qualify for a possible invite to the tour, investors must cast their vote on Musk's pay package .

Tesla announced the tour promotion on Tuesday. The company will select 15 shareholders at random for the event, which will take place the day before the annual shareholder meeting on June 12 and will include a tour of the Cybertruck and Model Y production lines at the Gigafactory.

To enter into the raffle, Tesla investors must submit proof that they've held a stake in the company as of April 15, as well as show evidence that they voted on the proposals for the upcoming meeting. The deadline to apply for the opportunity is June 7.

"You should only submit proof that you voted, not how you voted," according to Tesla's website . "You do not need to vote for or against any proposals to be eligible for entry."

Ahead of the annual meeting for investors, shareholders will be asked to vote on a number of proposals, including a proposal to reinstate Musk's pay package, which was struck down by a Delaware judge earlier this year. The company is also asking investors to vote on a proposal to move the company's state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas, and a separate proposal to reelect Tesla board members Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch.

Over the past few weeks, Tesla has pulled out all the stops to encourage investors to vote for the proposals, particularly Musk's pay package, which was valued at around $55 billion before it was voided in January. The company has argued the compensation plan is "critical to the future success of Tesla" and has even paid for a handful of advertisements promoting the pay plan.

Meanwhile, some investors have urged others to vote against the proposals. On May 21, a group of shareholders filed a letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission calling for investors to vote against both Musk's pay package and the proposal to reelect Murdoch and Kimbal Musk. Separately, proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis said in a report on Saturday that the pay plan was "excessive" and presented investors with "uncertain benefits and additional risk."

Are you a Tesla investor, do you work for the company, or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at [email protected] or 248-894-6012

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Russia Sees Manufacturing Jobs Surge in May

Russia’s manufacturing sector saw near-record employment growth in May, according to a new report from S&P Global, as an already tight labor market struggles to meet the surge in demand for workers.

S&P Global’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for Russian manufacturing rose to 54.4 last month compared to 54.3 in April. A PMI value above 50 points indicates growth, whereas anything below signifies a decline.

“Output growth strengthened amid sustained and robust customer demand, which drove the upturn in new orders,” the report read. “The sharp rise in new business led firms to expand capacity, as the pace of job creation accelerated to the second-fastest on record.”

According to S&P Global, manufacturing job growth last month was the sharpest since September 1997, when Russia’s economy began to slowly improve after the government ran huge deficits in the previous years to fund the First Chechen War.

“Employment growth stemmed in part from a third successive monthly uptick in backlogs of work,” the S&P Global report read, noting that business confidence slipped to a nine-month low despite the improvements in job creation. 

“Nonetheless, the level of optimism still signaled historically upbeat expectations regarding future output,” it added.

Russia’s manufacturing sector has continued to grow despite Western sanctions in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, largely driven by economic activity in the defense industry.  Military spending is expected to account for 40% of government spending this year.

But the boom in defense production, combined with the “partial” mobilization of some 300,000 army reservists, has created widespread labor shortages, which has supercharged wage growth.

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Blinken Travels to Eastern Europe as Russia Presses War in Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken aims to show support for Moldova, which is under threat from Russia, and plans to attend a NATO meeting in the Czech Republic.

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By Edward Wong

Reporting from Washington

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken plans to spend this week showing U.S. support for nations facing a hostile Russia in visits to Moldova and the Czech Republic, where he is scheduled to attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers that will discuss how to bolster Ukraine.

Mr. Blinken, who made an overnight stop in Kyiv more than two weeks ago, flew into Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, on Wednesday to meet with Maia Sandu, the nation’s president, who is running for re-election. Ms. Sandu has advocated for Moldova to join the European Union, and she has scheduled a referendum vote on E.U. membership on the same day as the general election in October.

She is expected to run against a pro-Russia candidate, and U.S. and European analysts say Moscow is likely to try to interfere in the election, as it has in other votes in Europe. The Biden administration has spoken publicly of Russian agents carrying out such interference using a variety of means, from hacking to boosting campaigns over social networks to doling out money to favored politicians.

U.S. officials said Mr. Blinken would speak with Ms. Sandu and other top officials about potential threats to the country’s democratic processes, as well as efforts to wean the nation off electricity generated in the pro-Russia separatist region of Transnistria. Moldova recently ended its reliance on gas imports from Russia.

“I anticipate he’ll have a robust package of support for Moldova’s transition, both energy independence or less dependence on sources to the east but also on support for democracy against Russian threats,” James O’Brien, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, said in a phone call with reporters on Friday.

Mr. Blinken plans to announce more details of American aid to address these issues during his visit, Mr. O’Brien said.

He added that the secretary’s message would “highlight Moldova’s progress in its path toward European integration, its solidifying its democracy, and the threat posed by the Russian interference in its internal processes.”

About 1,500 Russian troops are in Transnistria, which is in the east of Moldova and borders Ukraine. U.S. officials are watching closely for any signs that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia might try to annex the territory. Russia officially says it seeks a special status for Transnistria.

In the Czech Republic, which State Department officials now call Czechia, following the lead of the country’s government, Mr. Blinken plans to attend a two-day planning session of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and meet with Czech officials.

The NATO session in Prague, the nation’s capital, is aimed at preparing for the 80th anniversary meeting of alliance leaders in Washington in July. The group is not expected to declare that Ukraine is joining NATO now, an aspiration that President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated repeatedly both before and after Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began in 2022. However, NATO officials in Prague are expected to work out the details for a substantial show of support for Ukraine’s progress toward joining NATO, and those will be announced in July, Mr. O’Brien said.

Russian troops are pressing an offensive in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. The Ukrainian war effort has been flagging in large part because of a shortage of weapons and munitions, and there are fewer citizens able to join the fight. President Biden recently signed into law a bill passed by Congress, despite some Republican opposition, that grants new tranches of military aid to Ukraine, as well as to Israel.

However, Russia is producing munitions at a rapid rate, and U.S.-led sanctions against the nation have not crippled its military industrial capabilities, as Americans officials had once hoped. Mr. Biden and his aides say China has played a decisive role in bolstering Russia through the sale of dual-use equipment and other exports that have allowed Moscow to strengthen weapons production. Mr. Blinken is expected to highlight China’s support for Russia in his discussions with NATO counterparts in Prague.

An earlier version of this article misstated the country that borders Transnistria. It is Ukraine, not Russia.

How we handle corrections

Edward Wong is a diplomatic correspondent who has reported for The Times for more than 24 years from New York, Baghdad, Beijing and Washington. He was on a team of Pulitzer Prize finalists for Iraq War coverage. More about Edward Wong

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

The decision by the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia  with American-made weapons fulfills a long-held wish by officials in Kyiv  that they claimed was essential to level the playing field.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested that Ukraine’s use of U.S.-supplied arms could expand beyond the current limitation  to strikes in the Kharkiv area.

Top Ukrainian military officials have warned that Russia is building up troops near northeastern Ukraine , raising fears that a new offensive push could be imminent.

Zelensky Interview: In an interview with The New York Times, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine challenged the West  over its reluctance to take bolder action.

Fleeing a War Zone: A 98-year-old Ukrainian grandmother stumbled past corpses and bomb craters  to escape Russia’s attacks.

Russia’s RT Network : RT, which the U.S. State Department describes as a key player in the Kremlin’s propaganda apparatus, has been blocked in Europe since the war started. Its content is still spreading .

How We Verify Our Reporting

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions  to independently confirm troop movements and other details.

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts .