First, links to reports from the Moscow Times, the Kyiv Post, Tass, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, the Associated Press, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Next, links to two commentaries by a Washington Post columnist published around July 10 and around July 19. Then, a July 21 PBS news release about a Frontline documentary the network, followed by related July 14 commentary from the Berkshire Eagle. NOTE: This is the second of two entries today. — MCM
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Former U.S. official shares details of secret ‘track 1.5’ diplomacy with Moscow, by Cameron Manley | The Moscow Times Secret diplomatic talks are ongoing between former senior U.S. national security officials and high-ranking members of the Kremlin, a former U.S. official directly involved in the talks has confirmed. Earlier this month, NBC first reported the existence of these back-channel discussions, which involve former U.S. officials engaging in discreet exchanges with the Kremlin, as well as a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an effort . . . READ MORE . . .
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Odesa missile attack: One dead after yet another overnight Russia strike. From the Kyiv Post. At least one person has died in Odesa after Russia launched another overnight missile and drone attack against the Ukrainian port city. The Ukrainian military said two Kalibr missiles and eight kamikaze drones were used. Odesa’s regional governor said: “A civilian guard born in 1979 died as a result of . . . READ MORE . . .
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Russia’s Battlegroup South repels attacks of Ukrainian assault groups in three directions. From Tass. MOSCOW — The units of Russia’s Battlegroup South repelled the attacks of the assault groups of the Ukrainian armed forces in the directions of Lisichansk, Aleksandr-Kalinovsk and Soledar-Artyomovsk, the head of the group’s press center Vadim Astafyev says. According to him, artillery . . . READ MORE . . .
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Russia says hit Ukrainian air fields, Western arms storage sites. From AFP. Russian forces struck “airfields, control and deployment centres of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, assembly shops and storage sites for naval drones as well as for missiles, weapons and military equipment received from European countries and the United States,” the defence ministry said today. READ MORE . . .
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Ukraine counteroffensive is moving, U.S. says while pledging support, by Trevor Hunnicutt and Kanishka Singh | Reuters WASHINGTON — Ukraine’s counteroffensive is “not a stalemate” even if it is not progressing fast enough, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday. He said Washington would “make sure that they [Ukrainians] have the kinds of tools and capabilities they need to . . . READ MORE . . .
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Bluffing or not, Putin’s declared deployment of nuclear weapons to Belarus raises tensions. From AP. Sometime this summer, if President Vladimir Putin can be believed, Russia moved some of its short-range nuclear weapons into Belarus, closer to Ukraine and onto NATO’s doorstep. The declared deployment of the Russian weapons on the territory of its neighbor and loyal ally . . . READ MORE . . .
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Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar discusses Putin, Zelenskyy and the war in Ukraine. Leila Fadel of NPR speaks with Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar about his book on Putin, Zelenskyy and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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Amid promising signs in Ukraine, uncertainties abound, by David Ignatius | The Washington Post The NATO alliance is stronger than ever before; its ally Ukraine is slowly advancing on the battlefield and receiving more weapons every week; and Russia is in disarray at home. Yet . . . READ MORE . . .
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The West feels gloomy about Ukraine. Here’s why it shouldn’t, by David Ignatius | The Washington Post A gloomy mood has been gathering this summer about the war. Partly, it’s a matter of perceptions: The Ukrainian counteroffensive . . . READ MORE . . .
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Documenting the siege of Mariupol. A news release from PBS. Now playing in select theaters and coming to PBS this fall, “20 Days in Mariupol” is an unflinching, first-hand account of the early days of Russia’s invasion of the port city of Mariupol, which remains under Russian occupation to this day. Ukrainian-born director and journalist Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues from the Associated Press were . . . READ MORE . . .
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An unflinching look at seemingly endless suffering in Ukraine, by Leonard Quart | The Berkshire Eagle This month, Frontline is showing “20 Days in Mariupol” on PBS. Mstyslav Chernov — a Ukrainian videographer, photographer, photojournalist, filmmaker, war correspondent and novelist — directed the documentary that traces the Russian siege of the port city of Mariupol that began in March 2022 in all its horrifically violent and intimate detail. Mariupol is . . . READ MORE . . .
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MAY BE CONTINUED