For today, links to four reports: from Reuters, the Associated Press, Tass, and the Kyiv Independent, and to a book review from Kyiv Post; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA and SYRIA entry for this date are HERE and HERE.) — MCM 

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Russia says it thwarted plot to kill officer and a blogger. From Reuters. Russia’s Federal Security Service said today it had foiled a plot by Ukraine to kill a high-ranking Russian officer and a pro-Russian war blogger with a bomb hidden in a portable music speaker. READ MORE . . .

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Bloodied Ukrainian troops risk losing more hard-won land in Kursk to Russia, by Samya Kullab | AP  KYIV — Five months after their shock offensive into Russia, Ukrainian troops are bloodied and demoralized by the rising risk of defeat in Kursk, a region some want to hold at all costs while others question the value of having gone in at all. READ MORE . . .

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Russia says battlegroups North, Dnepr cause Ukraine to lose up to 160 troops over past day. From Tass. MOSCOW — The Ukrainian army lost more than 160 servicemen, three radio-electronic warfare stations and a field ammunition depot as a result of operations by the battlegroups North and Dnepr, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a broader daily bulletin of the special military operation. READ MORE . . .

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2024: Ukraine in photos and words, by Viacheslav Ratynskyi, Irynka Hromotsks, and a number of photographers | The Kyiv Independent  [Life in Ukraine during this year of war is summarized in 42 photographs and 15 paragraphs.] Click HERE for article and photos.

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A new sketchy history of independent Ukraine, by Bohdan Nahaylo | Kyiv Post  When I heard that my former longtime friend Adrian Karatnycky was completing a history of contemporary Ukraine, I was thrilled and eagerly awaited getting my hands on the book. Like me . . . READ MORE . . .