First, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, National Public Radio, and teleSUR; for others, click on their names below. — MCM

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Ukraine says scores of Russians killed in southern fighting, by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk | Reuters * Kyiv says more than 100 Russian soldiers killed on Friday * Ukraine says rail links to Kherson over Dnipro have been cut * UK spy chief says Russia is ‘running out of steam’ * Russia publishes list of killed, injured Ukrainian POWs | KYIV — The Ukrainian military said today it had killed scores of Russian soldiers in fighting in the south, including the Kherson region that is the focus of Kyiv’s counter-offensive in that part of the country and a key link in Moscow’s supply lines. Rail traffic to Kherson over the Dnipro River had been cut, the military’s southern command said, potentially further isolating Russian forces west of the river from supplies in READ MORE . . .

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U.S. envoy: Russia intends to dissolve Ukraine from world map, by Edith M. Lederer | The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Friday there should no longer be any doubt that Russia intends to dismantle Ukraine “and  dissolve it from the world map entirely.” Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the U.N. Security Council that the United States is seeing growing signs that Russia is laying the groundwork to attempt to annex all of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, including by installing “illegitimate proxy officials in Russian-held areas, with the goal of holding sham referenda or decree to join Russia.” . . . Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an Arab summit in Cairo last Sunday that Moscow’s overarching goal in Ukraine is to free its people from its “unacceptable regime.” READ MORE . . .

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Russia suspends gas supplies to Latvia. From Agence France-Presse. Russian energy giant Gazprom today suspended gas supplies to Latvia following tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and sweeping European and U.S. sanctions against Russia. The declaration came a day after Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of bombing a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian-held territory, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky . . . READ MORE . . .

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For the 1st time since Russia invaded, ships are set to depart Ukraine with grain. Reported by Joanna Kakissis | National Public Radio In Odessa, Ukraine is trying to launch ships filled with grain as part of deals brokered to address a global food shortage. Its ports have been closed since Russia invaded more than five months ago. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war may have been killed in a missile attack. Tim Mak of NPR reported from Kyiv. The prisoners are soldiers who were part of a unit that held out for months in Mariupol while being surrounded by Russian forces. Ukraine and Russia are accusing each other in the attack. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Lavrov urges Binken to avoid leaks regarding prosoner exchange. From teleSUR. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in a telephone conversation he held Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urged him to resort to diplomacy without speculations and leaks when discussing the exchange of prisoners between Moscow and Washington, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported. “Referring to the possible . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED