First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio; click on their names below for links to additional stories. Then, a link to James Brooke’s column in today’s Berkshire Eagle, accessible to subscribers. — MCM

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As Ukraine loses troops, how long can it keep up the fight? by John Leicester and Hanna Arhirova | The Associated Press ZHYTOMYR, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that Ukraine is now losing 60 to 100 soldiers each day in combat. By way of comparison, just short of 50 American soldiers died per day on average in 1968 during the Vietnam War’s deadliest year for U.S. forces. . . .  Gen. Viktor Muzhenko, the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ chief of general staff until 2019. He warned that losses could worsen. “This is one of the critical moments in the war, but it is not the peak,” Muzhenko told The Associated Press. . . . In order to reduce losses, Ukraine now needs powerful weapons that match or even surpass Russian weaponry. This would enable . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine says Russian troops are pushed back in key eastern city, by Max Hunder | Reuters * Ukraine says Russian troops being pushed back in Sievierodonetsk * UK says Russian air activity high over Donbas region * Macron says important not to humiliate Russia | KYIV — Kyiv said today it was pushing back Russian troops in Sievierodonetsk as intense fighting raged around the industrial city, the focus of a Russian offensive to take the eastern Donbas region. Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, said Russian forces had suffered severe defeats and were blowing up bridges across the Siverskyi Donets river to prevent . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia closes in on a city in eastern Ukraine after 100 days of war. Reported by Peter Granitz | National Public Radio Fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces has intensified around Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine. A victory there would be a major accomplishment for President Vladimir Putin. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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Russia’s big red machine misfires, by James Brooke | The Berkshire Eagle One of the most significant lessons is Russia’s much feared “modernized” army, the largest in Europe, is, well, not so impressive. . . . On Feb. 24, many Western pundits predicted that the Russian Army, the successor to the Soviet Union’s “big red machine,” would roll into Kyiv in days. Putin thought the same. . . . Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden sketched out where the military portion of $54 billion in aid to Ukraine will go this summer. . . .  Washington’s goal seems to be to cut the Russian Army down to size. Berkshire Eagle subscribers can read the whole column HERE. President Biden’s op-ed column in the New York Times published at the end of May is HERE.

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TO BE CONTINUED