First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, National Public Radio, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. And last, via Consortium News, a link to Scott Ritter’s assessment of coverage of the war by Newsweek’s William Arkin (and by extension that of much Western media); the article itself links to three of Arkin’s pieces for Newsweek and to a regular podcast that features Ritter.  — MCM

–   –   –

Ukraine’s nuclear plant goes offline amid fighting, by Yesica Fisch and Joanna Kozlowska | AP  ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — Ukraine’s and Europe’s largest nuclear plant has stopped supplying Ukrainian-held territories with electricity, Kremlin-backed authorities said today, as a team of inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog continued their mission at the site. The Russian-appointed city administration in Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia plant is located, blamed an alleged Ukrainian shelling attack this morning, which they said had destroyed a key power line. “The provision . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Russia, West step up energy war; Moscow accuses Ukraine of attacking nuclear plant, by Tom Balmforth | Reuters * Russia delays pipeline reopening in blow to Europe * G7 finance chiefs agree on Russian oil price cap * Russia accuses Ukraine of trying to capture nuclear plant | KYIV — Stepping up an energy war between Russia and the West, Moscow has announced it will keep its main gas pipeline to Germany shut and G7 countries said they planned a price cap on Russian oil exports. The standoff over Russian gas and oil exports is a fallout from President Vladimir Putin’s six-month invasion of Ukraine, underscoring the deep rift it has caused between Moscow and Western nations. Russia’s defence ministry meanwhile accused Ukrainian forces today of mounting . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

U.N. nuclear inspectors visit Russian-occupied region. Reported by Elissa Nadworny and Scott Simon | NPR  U.N. nuclear inspectors were finally able to access a nuclear power plant in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine this week. They say the plant faces grave risks, especially from shelling. Click HERE to listen and, sometime later, read.

–   –   –

Erdogan praises Russia’s role in bringing IAEA team to Zaporozhye in phone talk with Putin. From Tass. MOSCOW — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin today highlighted Russia’s role in arranging a visit by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the Kremlin press service said. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Getting it Wrong on Ukraine, by Scott Ritter | Consortium News Six months into Russia’s “Special Military Operation,” fact-challenged reporting that constitutes Western media’s approach to covering the conflict in Ukraine has become apparent to any discerning audience. Less understood is why anyone would sacrifice their integrity to participate in such a travesty. The story of Newsweek’s William Arkin is a case in point. . . . [He] seems determined to cement himself in the annals of the Russian-Ukraine conflict as an unabashed Ukraine partisan and vehicle for Pentagon information warriors. Arkin’s narrative . . . READ MORE . . .