For today, links to five reports: from the Associated Press, Kyiv Post, the Kyiv Independent, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA and ELECTION entries are HERE and HERE.) — MCM

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Drones strike Moscow as top UK official highlights Russian casualties in Ukraine. From AP. KYIV — A massive drone strike rattled Moscow and its suburbs overnight into today, injuring a woman and temporarily halting traffic at some of Russia’s busiest airports, while a huge nighttime wave of Russian drones targeted Ukraine, officials reported. READ MORE . . .

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As Russian forces close in on Kurakhove, hundreds of residents remain in the front-line city, by Anton Shtuka and Evgeniy Maloletka | AP  KURAKHOVE, Ukraine — Set on Ukraine’s eastern front, Kurakhove is surrounded on three sides, with Russian forces just under 2 miles from the devastated city center. Yet between 700 and 1,000 local residents . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian ammo depot hit by Ukrainian forces in Bryansk Region. From Kyiv Post.  The Ukrainian Defense Forces carried out a strike on the ammunition depots of the 1060th Material and Technical Support Center in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. READ MORE . . .

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NYT: Russia set to launch 50,000-strong offensive in Kursk Oblast, including North Koreans. From the Kyiv Independent. Russia is preparing to launch an offensive in Kursk Oblast with a force of 50,000 soldiers, including North Korean troops, the New York Times reported today, citing U.S. and Ukrainian officials. READ MORE . . .

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Trump’s second term could force NATO into a reckoning with its relationship with the U.S. Ayesha Rascoe of NPR asks Heather Conley of the German Marshall Fund of the United States what Donald Trump’s second term could mean for NATO and the war in Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.