Ukraine, 3-23-22

First and second, Reuters and Associated Press reports from late this morning, both linking to other stories. Then, a selection of Ukraine-related National Public Radio stories from today and yesterday. — MCM

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Kremlin veteran quits over Ukraine war and leaves Russia, by Natalia Zinets, Natalie Thomas and Vitalii Hnidiy | Reuters * Anatoly Chubais was Putin’s first Kremlin boss under Yeltsin * Biden on first foreign trip since war began * Destruction of Mariupol seen in new satellite images | LVIV/MYKOLAIV/KHARKIV, Ukraine — A veteran envoy of President Vladimir Putin has resigned over the Ukraine war and left Russia with no intention to return, two sources said today, the first senior official to break with the Kremlin since Putin launched his invasion a month ago. The Kremlin confirmed that Anatoly Chubais had resigned of his own accord. Chubais was one of the principal architects of Boris Yeltsin’s economic reforms of the 1990s and was Putin’s boss in the future president’s first Kremlin job. He held senior business and political jobs under Putin, lately serving as Kremlin special envoy to international organisations. READ MORE . . .

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A month in, Ukraine fights on, makes Moscow pay a high price, by NEBI QENA and CARA ANNA | The Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine — One month of war, still defiant. With its government still standing and its outnumbered troops battling Russian forces to bloody stalemates on multiple fronts, Ukraine is scarred, wounded and mourning its dead but far from beaten. When Russia unleashed its invasion Feb. 24 in Europe’s biggest offensive since World War II and brandished the prospect of nuclear escalation if the West intervened, a lightning-swift toppling of Ukraine’s democratically elected government seemed likely. But with Wednesday marking four full weeks of fighting, Russia is bogged down in a grinding military campaign, with untold numbers of dead, no immediate end in sight, and its economy crippled by Western sanctions. U.S. President Joe Biden and key allies are meeting in Brussels and Warsaw this week . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ties between Russia and Japan get even worse because of the war, by Anthony Kuhn | NPR.   Listen HERE.

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The U.S. and allies plan to step up sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, by A. Martinez and Tamara Keith | NPR.  Listen HERE.

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Ukraine’s military is fortifying its defenses around city of Odessa,report by Tim Mak | NPR. Listen and read HERE.

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Russia cut off access to Facebook, by Charles Maynes | NPR.  Listen and read HERE.

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TO BE CONTINUED